OK Play India, a plastics auto component company, has launched e-Raaja which is claimed to be the first designed, developed and manufactured e-rickshaw in the country. The ICAT-certified rickshaw, which has a plastic body, is priced at Rs 1.15 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh (including taxes). The vehicle is designed to carry four passengers plus a driver.

Launching the e-Raaja, Rajan Handa, MD, OK Play India, said, “The next- generation, ICAT-approved, e-Raaja is India’s first 100 percent indigenously designed and developed, zero emission plastic body green e-rickshaw to be manufactured in India. It is the result of more than two years of in-house R&D by our dedicated research and design team. It has over 90 percent of Indian components, unlike most other e-rickshaws in the country which have about 95 percent Chinese components.”

The company has a production capacity of 300,000 e-rickshaws from its two manufacturing units – one in Sohna (Haryana) to cater to North India and the other in Ranipet (Tamil Nadu) for South India. The e-Raaja is seen as OK Play’s foray to tap the emerging Rs 50,000 crore e-rickshaw market in India.

Elaborating on why OK Play chose e-rickshaws as a segment to enter the automobile industry, Handa said: “The transition was natural, as, for over 2 decades now, OK Play India has been using the roto- moulded plastics process and has the expertise to create world class, environment friendly automotive plastic products that excel in both safety, quality and durability. Hence, the decision to choose E-rickshaws to foray into the automobile industry was quite obvious.”