Hyderabad-based Franklin EV plans to double capacity, eyes more localisation

Our target is to reach 200 showrooms and achieve sales of 3,000 units per month this year,

Hyderabad: Franklin EV, a Hyderabad-based electric scooter manufacturer, has drawn up plans to invest Rs 50 crore for its expansion. It now has 54 dealerships and that number will increase to 200 this year.

The firm’s 2-acre Cherlapally unit now has a capacity to produce 100 e-scooters per shift per day. It is planning to double the capacity here. It now has about 110 employees and that number will increase to 300 this year. It is currently exporting its models to Nepal, Bangladesh and also to Africa. “We have plans to enter other countries,” said Dr Shashidhar Kumar, Founder, Franklin EV.

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The company is in discussions with 30 entities for new franchises. “Our target is to reach 200 showrooms and achieve sales of 3,000 units per month this year, he said.

Its scooter Koro is available in two variants- single battery and dual battery. The dual battery variant has a 200 km range. It is priced at Rs 1.14 lakh. The single battery variant is priced at Rs 81,450. Apart from Koro, it has Power Plus and Nix Dlx models in the market. By April this year, it plans to launch two more models which will come with a 100-km range and will be priced between Rs 65,000 and Rs 75,000 after FAME-II subsidy. The company is the lone player in South India to make electric scooters under this subsidy, Shashidhar said.

Franklin EV, which started its sales in 2021, has a presence in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “At present, we have a sales network across 30 cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada. There are 14 showrooms in Hyderabad alone. We acquired more than 6,000 customers within two years of starting our sales,”said Naveen Kumar, co-founder, Franklin EV.

Depending on the model, Franklin EV uses 2.1-3 kilowatt lithium ion and lithium phosphate batteries. It procures them from manufacturers such as New Energy Tech, EVE, and Molicell. The batteries can be removed from the vehicle for easy charging. There is a one year warranty on the controller and the charger, two year warranty on the motor, and three years on the battery.

“The two new models, to be launched in April, will be manufactured with locally-made components. With regard to Power Plus, Nix Dlx and Koro models, we achieved a localisation of 70 per cent,” said Ranjith Kumar, another co-founder.