Hero Electric posts zero dispatches in April 2022; attributes it to the ongoing global chips shortage
A global chip shortage continues to plague manufacturers. Expectations point to an improvement in the situation in H2 2022. With reduced production, acquiring them remains a key issue. And with a chip shortage looming overhead, the only logical outcome is production loss.
Hero Electric Scooter Chips Shortage
Hero Electric has over time, secured a sustainable top position in the fledgeling electric scooter segment. However, the E2W brand finds itself severely affected by the chips shortage. Resultantly, Hero Electric posts zero dispatches in April 2022.
Simultaneously, those in the orderbook find their vehicle delivery wait period stands extended. Waiting period is now over 60 days. The situation is so acute at present that there are dealerships, which have no stock to display.
As with anything that isn’t fully entrenched and established, the Indian electric two-wheeler industry is dealing with plenty of teething matters. And being under the limelight following a recent spate of fires in quick succession, industry wide think-tanks are expected to work overtime. This bodes well for long term robustness as eliminating drawbacks in the initial stages will make way for stringent safety policies. Focus is currently heightened on battery management systems and vehicle wellbeing.
Hero Electric production capacity
In FY22, Hero Electric reported a sales milestone of 100,000 units. However, the start to FY23 is slow going on account of the chips shortage. However, Hero Electric isn’t sitting by and twiddling its thumbs. The delivery gap period is being utilised effectively to ramp up production capacity. This is true for its Ludhiana and Pitampur plant.
The manufacturer is also working towards a smoother supply chain flow. There are plenty of pointers estimating EV growth. This is evident through increased customer demand. Hero is diligent about enhanced battery testing. And carries out thorough audits of the battery production factories. This enhances battery systems’ safety and consumer security. This month, Hero Electric observed ‘Battery Safety Month’. Dealerships communicated with consumers regarding best practices in handling batteries, and identifying red flags by themselves.
EV robust growth path
Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric, said, “It’s like putting an emergency brake on a fast moving train. Our sales were almost doubling month on month and we somehow managed with sourcing from different geographies but the war collapsed a major supply chain resulting in this disruption. While apologising to customers for waiting so long for their favourite bikes, Gill assured that the company has geared up alternate sources and would soon resume production.”
“Meanwhile we are using this time to enhance our plant capacity to increase our production volumes as well as revisit our systems and processes related to batteries to further reinforce the quality assurance of our bikes. The recent happenings of fire incidents is an awakening call for the industry and we believe that even the best of the companies should introspect and constantly improve their designs and quality to repose confidence in the electric mobility that is going through such a robust growth path.”
