Ahmedabad, Gujarat-based Matter, which is an emerging name in India's electric mobility space, has recently introduced its first offering - Matter Aera - country's first all-electric motorcycle with a gearbox.
The Aera is available in two variants, with prices starting at Rs 1.74 lakh, ex-showroom, for the base Aera 5000, while the top-spec Aera 5000(+) comes priced at Rs 1.84 lakh, ex-showroom, and offers incremental features such as telematics-based remote vehicle monitoring, and tracking, and Bluetooth connectivity.
The Aera's e-motor develops 15hp and the company claims a 0-60kph time of under 6 seconds. The motorcycle comes powered by a 5kWh battery pack that claims to offer a real-world range of around 125km, and also uniquely gets an active liquid cooling system to ensure thermal management in varying temperatures across India.
According to Mohal Lalbhai, Founder & CEO, Matter, "In a two-wheeler, the electric powertrain must be packaged in a small volume and to introduce liquid cooling has been about two years worth of effort to get technologies typically available for four-wheelers into a two-wheeler package."
Lalbhai explains that to introduce the gearbox on the Aera, the company had to redesign its working, as well as redesign the clutch. In terms of costs, vertical integration and extensive localisation has been Matter's mantra to launch its maiden product at an attractive price tag.
"We decided to have vertical integration, wherein other than the cells, magnets, and semiconductors, everything else is designed by us, and sourced from within India. If we end up buying a motor from a motor manufacturer, one needs to reimburse the cost, and large companies typically end up taking that in an OpEx format. Thus, the cost of the said component goes up by almost 100 percent, and that is where affordability falls apart.
"The battery cells, thermal management, and BMS must come together seamlessly and only when everything is perfectly integrated, one is able to optimise cost and reliability," Lalbhai explains in this video.
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