HYM Drive Systems on Friday announced the commissioning of its manufacturing facility for electric drive units at Hero E-Cycle Valley in Ludhiana, Punjab. HYM Drive Systems is a joint venture between Hero Motors Ltd and Yamaha Motors Co of Japan.
The two partners announced the joint venture in October last year to create a global electric-cycle drive plant in Ludhiana as the next step in their strategic alliance set up in September 2019 to work together in the e-cycle product segment.
Hero E-Cycle valley is an integrated and high-end plant that manufactures premium push bikes for the global market.
“This manufacturing facility is a key component of our joint strategy with Yamaha to design, validate and manufacture electric drive units for global e-cycle markets in India,” said Pankaj Munjal, Chairman of Hero Motors Company (HMC).
The EU e-bicycle market has been growing in double digits for more than a decade and is expected to grow at a similar rate in near future, he said, adding that “HMC envisions India to be a global manufacturing hub for e-cycles and the drive systems”.
The setting of the manufacturing unit at Ludhiana has brought the company a step closer to fulfilling its ambition to be the first fully integrated player in India for the global market, Munjal added.
“To take it a step further, Hero Motors is planning to set up a technical centre in 2023 to design the complete electric drive units, which will include motors from HYM and other components like battery, controller, charger, display, sensors and connect applications from automotive suppliers in India and the EU,” Munjal stated.
HYM Drive systems has a facility that includes a hi-tech motor assembly line, along with in-house motor winding and end-of-line testing.
HYM said it will start production from the first quarter of the next year with a capacity of 3,00,000 motors per annum in phase 1 (capacity expansion plan to 1 million in phase 2), the company said.
“This partnership is in line with our ambition of advancing into e-cycle and meeting the needs of e-cycle customers in a better way. We are excited to achieve this milestone,” said Okubo Shingo, General Manager, Yamaha Japan.
