A sub Rs 10 lakh electric vehicle (EV) will hit the Indian market in the next 15 months. The vehicle will be a product of a joint venture between Chinese company Haima Automobile of FAW Group and Bird Electric.

Christened EV1, it will have a range of 200km and will be priced around Rs 10 lakh.

Haima New Energy has entered into a technical collaboration on EVs with Bird Electric, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bird Group, an Indian company with presence in aviation, hospitality, skill development and personal mobility to manufacture Bird Electric EV1.

“The hatchback will be available in the range of Rs 10 lakh on Indian roads,” said Becky Gu, director of overseas business department, Haima Automobile International Corporation.

The vehicle, likely to be manufactured at the soon-to-be-set-up plant at Manesar will be introduced in two variants with a driving range of 200-300km.

The first lot of Bird Electric EV1 will take at least 12-15 months to be rolled out.

“The land for the plant has been acquired. The plant is yet to come up,” said Gu.

The EV1 variant with a 20.42kWh lithium ion battery will have a range of 200km. The second variant will have a 28.5kWh battery with a range of 300km. The top speed will be 120kmph.

“On the back of rising demand for clean mobility and the government’s policies and tax sops on EVs, Bird Electric EV1 has been specifically designed for the Indian customers looking at the value proposition in the B-segment,” said Gu.

“The future of the market is electric and the premium hatchback will be launched by 2021-end,” she added.