First electric Royal Enfield to debut next year?

-         Royal Enfield is working on the electric Himalayan 

-         First EV from the brand to be launched in a few years

-         RE acquired a stake in the Stark EV company last year 

Royal Enfield is working on a range of motorcycles, and electric ones are also a part of it. While all its motorcycles fall in the premium lifestyle segment, it believes there is room for an EV too. 

A few months ago, we revealed the exclusive concept picture of the electric Himalayan, and this bike is likely to be one of the first EVs by the brand to make its world debut. The company plans to take a top-down approach with its EV plans – first, launch the most expensive and exclusive motorcycle and then, the affordable bikes in the coming years. As RE’s lineup is pretty strong, this route will help it build excellent brand recall and image because then it will not need to worry about its sales from ICE bikes. 

Meanwhile, according to a report, the Chennai-based company is looking to launch its first electric bike, codenamed L1A, sometime next year. We are not sure if it’s the same as the electric Himalayan. Then, there’s another EV platform under works, but there aren’t many details available about it yet. Notably, Royal Enfield acquired a stake in an EV company, Stark, last year, and it plans to take its help to co-develop a range of new e-bikes. However, this project could take some time. 

That said, we believe Royal Enfield won’t launch an electric bike anytime soon as it doesn’t want to be one of the first companies to adopt EVs. There are a lot of ICE products that are in the pipeline, and some of them have been delayed quite a bit. Royal Enfield would want to sort that out first, followed by its EV launch. But there’s a high chance of the brand unveiling an electric bike in a concept form sometime next year.