In India, e-cycles have a battery range of 25–45 km on a single charge. They do not offer a pillion-riding option and cost up to Rs 55,000.

Addressing these issues, a Delhi-based EV startup Voltro Motors has launched the Voltron E-Cycle at the price of Rs 35,000.

This e-cycle comes with a battery range of 100 km, along with features like off-road riding, pillion riding, and hill riding.

“The idea was to make it suitable for kids to use while going to school or for parents to pick up and drop kids at school. We needed to make it suitable for people in sales and field jobs, and for commuting to and from the office,” says founder Prashanta.

Another significant concern with most e-cycles in India is their inability to climb flyovers and hills because they don’t have sufficient power, which is not the case with Voltron.

Prashanta explains that in regular e-cycles, the motor is placed inside the wheel hub, but it’s not very good at transferring power efficiently.

However, in their e-cycles, they use a different motor that is mounted separately on the bicycle frame and connected to the wheel’s sprocket with a chain. This setup allows for much better power transfer.

The Voltron E-Cycle is powered by a 24 volts 30ah Lithium-ion battery, which takes just three hours to fully charge. Commuters can charge the battery from any residential electric socket.

The e-cycle drastically cuts down on pollution. “It consumes about 700 watts of power to charge up compared to using about 3 litres of petrol to travel 100 km by scooter or motorcycle,” says Prashanta.

“It amounts to a massive saving of close to Rs 236 per 100 km since the cost of travelling 100 km by scooter or motorcycle works out to about Rs 240 as compared to Rs 4 for our e-cycle,” he adds.

The e-cycle has an auto e-brake cut-off feature that stops the motor when you apply the brakes. This ensures rider safety, protects the battery, and makes the disc brake pads last longer.

It also has an inbuilt hazard light and brake light to ensure the rider’s safety while riding, even at night.

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