Kochi: Hero Electric, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hero Group, targets sales of 70,000 units this year, a 250 per cent increase over the previous year's 21,000 units, a top official said on Monday.

Aiming to become a global leader in Electric Vehicle (EV) category, the company would be exporting 10 per cent of its total volume, Managing Director Naveen Munjal, told reporters here.

To cater to the increasing demand for EV models, he said Hero Electric has doubled production capacity at its Ludhiana factory from 220 units a day to 440 units a day. It would invest about Rs 80 crore for further expansion and for RD.

Announcing the launch of a new range of Electric scooters in the low and high speed EV category, he said his company's vision is to provide low cost, high performance, non polluting vehicle to the common man.

The southern states have been identified as high potential territories for electric vehicles and accelerated growth is being forseen, he said.

Kerala reported sales of over 2,000 units in 2007-08 and is targeting sales of over 6,000 units this year. The dealership network would be doubled from the present nine in the state, he said.

While Hero Electric already has two successful low speed electric scooter models -- Hero Maxi and Hero Optima -- in the market,  he said the company will soon introduce a new range of Electric scooters in the high speed category as well.

Hero Electric, which entered the EV segment in 2007, has sold over 20,000 electric scooters last year, Munjal said.

Electric bikes, a new category in the country, are witnessing good growth. EVs are targeted at teens between 14-18 years, women and elder people.

The scooters can run anywhere around 70 km on a single charge of the battery and the cost works out to be about 10 paise per km which makes it very cost effective, he said.

With the fuel price soaring, the demand for the electric scooters, priced at Rs 28,000 to Rs 30,000,would go up, he said.

Many state governments has given subsidies and excise duty waiver for these vehicles and there are plans to approach the Kerala government for the same, he said.

Source : PTI