Words by Ganesh Murthy
Multiple manufacturers have showcased or launched their electric vehicles at the Auto Expo 2018. Another one to join the bandwagon is Uniti, a Swedish electric car manufacturer and Bird Group, an Indian company, announcing their partnership at the big event, to bring in an affordable five seater electric vehicle to our shores. At the Auto Expo they have showcased their electric concept car, christened Uniti One. They also made an announcement that they will be bringing the Uniti One which will be a five-seater electric car, priced at Rs 7.14 lakh (ex-showroom) to the Indian market by 2020.
The concept car that is showcased at the Auto Expo looks cool enough with its bright blue headlamps and the LED DRLs. The two door concept car has a seating capacity of three. The centrally placed driver seat and the joystick type steering control look rather outlandish. The steering also houses a big screen that is used to display vehicle related information.
The Uniti One EV, which could be coming to India, will have a range of approximately 200km. The car is considered to be a premium offering from the manufacturer, based on the user experience, features and safety equipment. One can book the Uniti One by paying a sum of Rs 1000 as a refundable deposit, online in the company’s website. Early registrations will give users a chance to customise their vehicles and even get early deliveries, according to the company. The Auto Expo visitors at Uniti’s pavilion can get a glimpse of the 5-seater car through VR tech and also get a peek into the concept car that was also showcased at an event in Sweden last year.
The executive director of Bird Group at the Auto Expo said, “Owing to our experience in the electric vehicles space of manufacturing and distributing Segway in India for the last 8 years, other personal transport vehicles and our engineering footprint in all the major cities, we hope that our initiative will bring the best of affordable, yet very high-tech electric cars into every household and change the way people travel. We are also glad that this will contribute to the drive against pollution, which is now affecting almost every major metro in our country. This initiative will not only create huge opportunities and numerous jobs, but would also enable entrepreneurs to set dealership networks in their prevalent geographies. It also follows the vision of the Prime Minister, Mr. Modi to Make in India and ensure vehicles are electric by the year 2030.”
At the event, the CEO of Uniti, Lewis Horne said, “Our vehicles are optimal for the Indian market and well aligned with India’s strong demand for clean mobility. Bird Group was identified as an ideal partner due to their experience in the mobility sector, along with their capacity for local assembly and mass distribution of our vehicles.”