A solar-powered two-seater electric vehicle (EV) is due to be launched from the garage of a Pune-based start-up in 2026.

Vayve Mobility, which showcased a pre-production version at Auto Expo 2023, is preparing for a full-scale launch and assembly in two years.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Nilesh Bajaj, founder and CEO of Vayve Mobility, said: “We will be showing a production car in the upcoming Bharat Mobility show in January 2025. We are now in the testing phase.”

Bajaj said Vayve’s USP is a product that is a two-seater vehicle partly charged by solar power. The vehicle will have solar panels on its top, which will supplement the charge from an 18kWh battery pack.

“There are no personal two-seater vehicles in the Indian mass market today. This is a category nobody has ventured into. Also, there are no solar-powered vehicles. There are solar-powered two-seater EVs in China, which sells five lakh of such vehicles in a year but it does not export the vehicle,” said Bajaj.

When asked if the power from the panel was enough to fully charge the vehicle, Bajaj said: “The solar power will only charge the vehicle for 12 km a day. The rest of the range will come from the battery pack.”

Solar power fluctuates during the day, and so the power is stored in an Electric Storage System (ESS) which is the battery pack inside the vehicle.

There are about 300 good solar days in a year and the vehicle can run about 3000 to 4000 km a year on solar. The 18kWh battery will provide a range of 220 to 250 km on a single charge.

Talking about the price point, the CEO said: “We want to price the vehicle somewhere between a two-wheeler and an entry-level four-wheeler. We will be operating in the L7 segment which is the quadricycle segment. “The price will be somewhere between ₹1.5 lakh and ₹7-8 lakh.”