India already has some electric scooters like the Okinawa iPraise and Ather 450 available in select regions, but there are only few companies who’ve shown keenness to enter the segment with electric motorcycles.
In that sense, Revolt was the first brand to commercially make its electric motorcycle RV400 available. And pretty soon, the brand will be competing with another local company, this time Hero Electric, which will be launching its yet to be named AE 47 electric bike.
We spotted the bike at the Auto Expo 2020 this month, where all the details were revealed, except for the pricing of course. So we’ve decided to put it through a detailed comparison with the Revolt RV400 and see how both these India-made bikes compare.
Design
The Revolt RV400 looks like a regular sports commuter motorcycle at first glance, but on closer inspection you notice it is all-electric, with the lack of an exhaust or even foot controls such as a gear lever or brake pedal.
The overall design has a naked, sport commuter look about it. All the panels are plastic, making the bike incredibly light at 108kg, out of which 18kg is the weight of the lithium-ion battery on board.
Hero AE47 is also compact like the Revolt RV400 but sports a retro design with its circular-shaped headlamps. In terms of its overall looks, the finishing from Hero on the bike is more pronounced and this will appeal to prospective buyers.
Make no mistake, its construction has been laid down using plastic, but it’s just that Hero’s use of materials are better polished than Revolt’s and that could work in Hero’s favour.
Power
The Hero Electric AE-47 is powered by a 4kW electric hub motor. Hero claims that the motorcycle can accelerate from 0-60kmph in 9 seconds and has a top speed of 85kmph.
The motorcycle gets a removable 3.5kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Claimed range is 165km in Eco mode and 85km in Power mode. The battery can be fully charged in four hours.
Revolt RV400 also packs a 4kW electric motor, offering 170Nm torque, with a claimed top speed of 85km/hr and riding range of up to 150km. The bike gets a 3.24kW removable battery, which be charged inside homes.
Instead of the anti-lock braking system (ABS), Revolt has preferred to go with combined braking system (CBS) with this bike.
More Features
Talking about the tech onboard with the Revolt RV400, you can add and change sounds of the bike from the Revolt mobile app, and it lets you start the bike with voice, integrated via the Google Assistant on your mobile. It sports an LCD instrument cluster with all the basic information that a rider needs in front of them.
It gets full LED lighting with dual projectors, dual disc brakes (with possible combi-braking), regenerative braking, 17-inch alloy wheels
Using the mobile app, you can put geo-fencing range on the bike, which will make sure nobody can steal your bike within a specified distance and if they try to do it, the bike won’t stop and alert its owner. The bike support e-SIM which will help it stay in contact with the support system at the company.
Coming to the Hero AE 47, this bike has similar features to that of Revolt RV400. You can start the bike without using a key, put it in geofence within a perimeter and stay in touch with the bike to gauge its battery level, tyre pressure and more.
What We Think?
Looking at the Hero AE 47, we’re excited to see what the bike will offer to the buyers. If it’s priced around Rs 1 to 1.5 lakh bracket, it will compete with the Revolt RV400, which can be bought by paying Rs 3,999 per month for a duration of three years.
One might feel that Revolt gets a first mover advantage, but till date, the company has only managed to focus on select parts of Delhi-NCR and Pune.
This is where Hero Electric might be able to push its reach beyond few regions, and keep the pricing to a competitive level. But with electric bikes, one is going to be concerned about the charging support, and other aspects that need to be covered by the company.
If these can be addressed, both the brands are likely to find takers in the coming years. As for Hero, we wait for its official launch and see how they price the bike which looks promising.
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