Okinawa is an Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturing company that some may mistake it to be a Japanese firm as it shares the name with a Japanese Island.
And, no; it doesn’t have any Japanese or Chinese collaboration either.
The founder of the Delhi-based e-scooter manufacturer, Jeetender Sharma, who once visited Okinawa during the early days of his career, was in awe of the island as it’s said to have the longest lifespan in the world, thanks to close to the zero pollution levels.
“The trip to Okinawa Islands is what inspired me to look at manufacturing electric vehicles,” says Sharma, who decided to name his company after the island and founded Okinawa Autotech in 2015 with a vision of creating a healthy environment.
However, at that time electric two wheelers that run on slow-speed lead-acid batteries weren’t seen as a viable alternative to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) powered petrol scooters. That’s why Sharma, a mechanical engineer with a stint of close to 14 years at Honda Scooters & Motorcycles, working across different verticals including quality management, market intelligence and research and development, utilised his initial two years of company formation for travelling to different parts of India to do research and take people’s opinions on electric vehicles.
“The first step we took was to break several prevalent myths about EVs among consumers and other stakeholders.” He explains some of these myths were around the possible speed of electric vehicles, the range anxiety (how far does it travel on a recharge cycle), and the performance of any product (weight carrying capacity, traveling on the rough Indian roads, etc.).
“With these insights, we came out with our first EV, which was India’s first high-speed electric vehicle that could touch the maximum speed of 55 Km/H, covering up to 90 Km on a charge cycle, and offered a loading capacity of up to 150 kilograms,” says Sharma.
Okinawa launched its first product in 2017 and now, in a small period of span, it claims to have emerged as one of the top two highest-selling electric two-wheeler brands in India, with more than 90,000 electric scooters running on the road.
“We sold 32,186 scooters in 2018, 28,980 scooters in 2019, and even when covid-19 hit us with the rest of the eclectic vehicle ecosystem, we sold 30,930 units in FY 21,” says the MD of Okinawa.
According to Autocar Professional which analysed the sales data of 16 high-speed electric two-wheeler manufacturers for the year 2020, Okinawa along with Hero Electric and Ampere Electric had a combined market share of 71 percent of the electric scooter market in India.
In its current product line, Okinawa has scooters from the price range of Rs50,000 to Rs1.14 lakh with a variation of six electric scooters.
Keeping true to its vision, Sharma says they started the year with a new product for B2B and B2C sectors- Okinawa Dual – ‘Service on Wheels’ by launching India’s first customizable B2B electric two-wheeler.
The Okinawa MD says his mantra has always been about being passionate, dedicated, and speedy. “I believe that every entrepreneur should be passionate to dedicatedly and promptly work towards a one-focused target.”
The company clocked annual growth of Rs155 crore in FY 2021 with an aim to increase this by 300 percent in FY 2022. “We believe to achieve this target with strong innovation, ecosystem, geographical expansion, and rising awareness about opting for e-vehicles in the country,” says Sharma.
Currently, Okinawa’s primary sales come from the B2C segment which accounts for 90 percent of total sales, with the remaining 10 percent coming from the B2B segment. As India’s B2B segment has just started with the testing of EV for their businesses, Sharma believes it will gradually increase in the near future. “With the rising operations and awareness among people, we are hopeful that B2B will be going to be substantial in quantity.”
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Okinawa was the first company to get FAME II approval from the Government of India to open its manufacturing facility in Bhiwandi, Rajasthan. The company has advanced manufacturing technologies like robotic welding, automatic CNC, automatic molding, and robotic paint shop. Sharma says they have dedicated suppliers who produce the components as per the Okinawa design.
For quality control, Okinawa complies with the IATF requirements as it is an IATF certified company. “We also make sure that the Okinawa suppliers must be ISO-9001, TS-16846, or IATF,” says Sharma.
At Okinawa, the e-scooter maker uses only lithium-ion batteries (48V, 60V & 72V ) which is a detachable battery with a maximum speed upto 50km/h.
Sharma insists that they ensure thorough R&D and engineering before finalizing any design. “We have developed our own technology of IPR and our own power train for motor, controller and lithium-ion battery BMS.”
Okinawa says around 92 percent of its components come from Indian suppliers. “We procure all the components and raw materials through our dedicated supply chain in India. With taking a step forward, this year, we are planning to go 100 percent localized in terms of components and raw materials,” reveals Sharma.
When it comes to its operational excellence, he says the company follows the QCD model which has three key pillars: quality of vehicle, cost competence, and delivery/after-sales experience.
Okinawa does not have its own charging station infrastructure, nor does it intend to invest into it anytime soon. As the ecosystem evolves, Sharma says the country will have adequate coverage of charging stations. “Moreover, we will double down our focus on swappable batteries, as is the case with our upcoming launch, Oki90. This helps people to reduce the time that they would have spent at charging stations. Moreover, Oki90 also supports fast charging,” he says.
PRODUCT INNOVATIONS
For Okinawas, Sharma says product innovation is at the core of what it does in its day to day business. The company is in the process of launching three new electric two-wheelers, of which two will be rolled out within the current fiscal year. The first one is the Oki100 that will be rolled out within this fiscal. The second launch for this fiscal would be a new high-speed electric scooter, which is named Oki90. “In the FY 2022-23, our Okinawa Cruiser two wheeler will hit the showrooms. Thus, I believe we are on a strong foot when it comes to the product mix.”
One of the key factors for its success is the affordability which the company attributes to strong local supply chains and R&D efforts. “The sustained endeavor has been helping us manufacture affordable, high quality products, which are appreciated by our customers,” says Sharma.
Moreover, as the company scales up production, Sharma expects unit economics will start playing its part and help people afford their products to an even greater extent.
“When it comes to quality, our two wheelers are very much at par with internal combustion (IC) engines. We offer the most competitive prices, along with various retail finance options through our partners. Our extensive service network makes sure that customers always have easy access to maintenance and other after sales services,” he says.
EXPANSION STRATEGY
As part of the expansion strategy, Okinawa is coming up with a new manufacturing facility in Rajasthan near its existing plant at Alwar.
The company is also planning to expand its dealer network from the current 300 to 500 and then 1000 over the next three years.
In the next couple of years, Okinawa will be launching three models: one motorcycle, one scooter, and one cruiser. “We have a set target to achieve 1 million vehicles on the road in the next five to seven years with new technology in power train battery, motor, etc,” says Sharma.
Okinawa has primarily been bootstrapped since the beginning, however, as the company undertakes the next phase of expansion, it looks to raise funds from external sources.
As of now, Sharma says the company is seeing good traction on its product portfolio. However, in order to achieve the vision that Okinawa has set out, they need to upscale their core operations as well as R&D and retail networks. “This requires a constant stream of funding at different junctures. We will leverage our relationships with financial institutions and private equity firms who understand our competitive edge in this high potential industry,” he reveals.
EV MARKET GROWTH PROSPECTS
While India’s electric two-wheelers segment has become very competitive over the last few years with the entry of several start-ups and legacy companies, Sharma says there is enough space for everyone to compete.
He attributes this to exponential growth that the electric vehicle market in India is expected to go through over the next five years. This, he explains, is due to many factors including the need for a futuristic transportation system that runs on many components such as clean energy, the government’s focus on local manufacturing, interest from traditional as well as new age automobile manufacturers which is duly supported by investors, growth of charging infrastructure, and many more.
Citing a joint report released last year by KPMG and CII, titled ‘Shifting gears: the evolving electric vehicle landscape in India’, Sharma says the country is expected to have 25 to 35 percent two-wheeler EVs and 65 to 75 percent three-wheeler EVs by 2030. Even though Covid-19 has posed some short-term roadblocks, he is confident that these numbers can be achieved and even surpassed through a collaborative effort by all the stakeholders.
While charging infrastructure still remains a major concern for the EV market in India, the situation is improving day by day as the sector undergoes a major upgrade.
Being a two-wheeler manufacturer, Sharma says they are of the opinion that charging infrastructure is not that big a problem in the EV ecosystem, especially in the adoption of electric two-wheelers. Since the inception, he says they have been trying to introduce the services which are easy to use. “With that thought at Okinawa, we took a leap ahead of time to eliminate this challenge to some extent by providing detachable lithium-ion batteries in all our products allowing users to take out the battery and charge using any normal plug point.”
The ecosystem for EVs — OEM efforts, charging infrastructure, dealership network, and retail financiers — are picking pace steadily. With this in mind, Sharmas says the growth projections made in the recent reports are a testimony to the fact that the country is ready for the adoption of EVs.