How an engineering college project turned into India’s first electric motorcycle company

[Mujraparty]

Much of Kapil Shelke’s childhood was spent tinkering with toy cars, with a penchant for dismantling and then putting them back together.

By the time he got to Pune’s DY Patil College of Engineering in 2005, he had moved on to bigger and more powerful toys—like motorcycles. A couple of years into his degree, he, along with three classmates, decided to take it up a gear: building India’s fastest electric motorcycle.


“We were living, breathing, and eating motorcycles those days,” Shelke said.

A decade later, 29-year-old Shelke’s college project has evolved into what is arguably India’s first electric motorcycle company—Tork Motorcycles.

On April 18, Tork announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding. The round was led by Bhavish Agarwal and Ankit Bhati, co-founders of taxi aggregator Ola.


Tork’s first commercial bike, the prototype for which is currently under development, is expected to launch sometime next year. The T6X will have a range of over 100 kilometres on a single charge. And it’ll take less than an hour, according to Shelke, to get the bike’s battery to full charge.

But it hasn’t been an easy ride for Shelke to get here.

Racing roots
By 2009, in their final year at college, the foursome, led by Shelke, had managed to put together a prototype.

They also found themselves a name, Tork Motorcycles, and decided on their first big test: The Isle of Man TT. One of the world’s most prestigious motorcycle races, it was was holding its first zero-carbon racing event that year, the TTXGP.

“This was my chance to make history,” explained Shelke.

With some Rs15 lakh (around $22,640) pooled in from family and friends, the team turned up at the Isle of Man, a small island between Ireland and Great Britain. Pitted against larger and substantially better funded international teams, Tork Motorcycles’s TX01, with a top speed of 156 kilometres per hour (kmph), managed to reach the podium with a third-place finish.

The boys were ecstatic. But back home, no one was bothered.

“We came back, and nobody knew what we’d done,” Shelke remembered. Once word got around, “a lot of people said that this might be luck,” he added. “So I said, ‘Let’s do this again.'”

So, in 2010, still with a four-member, self-funded team, Tork went back to the TTXGP, which had grown to a six-round championship, with races in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands. With a top speed of 214 kmph, their new bike, TX02, won the first round, and eventually finished third in the championship.

A bunch of Indian college students had proven themselves at the world’s premier electric motorcycle racing championship, again.


http://qz.com/664979/how-an-enginee...nto-indias-first-electric-motorcycle-company/

 

[jamahir]

hot steaming pile of bullshit !!

motorcycles not only cause traffic accidents and chaos greatly but also are harmful for social harmony ( as they are primarily used by callous school/college students, young professionals, criminals, members of reactionary groups ).

besides, if this chap wanted to rid india ( therefore the world ) of noise and chemical pollution he should have designed a public mass transit vehicle ( bus or mini-bus ) that used biofuel or some other non-battery propulsion.

all private personal vehicles must be banned... this is one of the components of a truly smart city.

 

[Skull and Bones]

hot steaming pile of bullshit !!

motorcycles not only cause traffic accidents and chaos greatly but also are harmful for social harmony ( as they are primarily used by callous school/college students, young professionals, criminals, members of reactionary groups ).

besides, if this chap wanted to rid india ( therefore the world ) of noise and chemical pollution he should have designed a public mass transit vehicle ( bus or mini-bus ) that used biofuel or some other non-battery propulsion.

all private personal vehicles must be banned... this is one of the components of a truly smart city.

Yet, you envy an elderly man driving an S-Class and going to an upmarket restaurant.

 

[Endeavour]

hot steaming pile of bullshit !!

motorcycles not only cause traffic accidents and chaos greatly but also are harmful for social harmony ( as they are primarily used by callous school/college students, young professionals, criminals, members of reactionary groups ).

besides, if this chap wanted to rid india ( therefore the world ) of noise and chemical pollution he should have designed a public mass transit vehicle ( bus or mini-bus ) that used biofuel or some other non-battery propulsion.

all private personal vehicles must be banned... this is one of the components of a truly smart city.

First make yourself capable of something to undermine the achievements of others.

 

[jamahir]

Yet, you envy an elderly man driving an S-Class and going to an upmarket restaurant.

i did give my reasoning in that thread so why you are dragging it??

First make yourself capable of something to undermine the achievements of others.

you do not come from a culture started by a revolutionary nor are you in revolutionary activity ( whether political or technological ), so you won't understand that "make yourself capable first" is a typical indian argument which impedes progressive progress and has led to india not contributing to the world either politically or technologically in 68 years ( the last even n.r. narayanamurthy said ).

you are not criticizing him because he has a ready product ( even if useless/harmful ) and probably because you ride motorcycles or are not bothered by them.

 

[Endeavour]

i did give my reasoning in that thread so why you are dragging it??



you do not come from a culture started by a revolutionary nor are you in revolutionary activity ( whether political or technological ), so you won't understand that "make yourself capable first" is a typical indian argument which impedes progressive progress and has led to india not contributing to the world either politically or technologically in 68 years ( the last even n.r. narayanamurthy said ).

you are not criticizing him because he has a ready product ( even if useless/harmful ) and probably because you ride motorcycles or are not bothered by them.

You just criticise motorcycle, without providing any alternative to a country like india.

So my point remain, stay useful or stay out.

 

[punit]

hot steaming pile of bullshit !!

motorcycles not only cause traffic accidents and chaos greatly but also are harmful for social harmony ( as they are primarily used by callous school/college students, young professionals, criminals, members of reactionary groups ).

besides, if this chap wanted to rid india ( therefore the world ) of noise and chemical pollution he should have designed a public mass transit vehicle ( bus or mini-bus ) that used biofuel or some other non-battery propulsion.

all private personal vehicles must be banned... this is one of the components of a truly smart city.

so much hatred for Bike ! got hit by some one riding a bike ?

i did give my reasoning in that thread so why you are dragging it??



you do not come from a culture started by a revolutionary nor are you in revolutionary activity ( whether political or technological ), so you won't understand that "make yourself capable first" is a typical indian argument which impedes progressive progress and has led to india not contributing to the world either politically or technologically in 68 years ( the last even n.r. narayanamurthy said ).

you are not criticizing him because he has a ready product ( even if useless/harmful ) and probably because you ride motorcycles or are not bothered by them.

is there any ban on bike in Libya ?

 

[Skull and Bones]

i did give my reasoning in that thread so why you are dragging it??

What is your view on cycles?

 

[jamahir]

What is your view on cycles?

unsuitable for city riding, from health perspective and about social harmony and security.

about health, though the "health and wellness" industry and the hippie community has promoted cycling as being healthy for the individual and the environment the activity creates health issues like piles ( hemorrhoids ) and genital problems, and these two are for males and females... fine, many will suggest go-around measures centering on proper saddle ( padding and ergonomic shape ) and handle-bar but why do all this extra circus when one should really be demanding ban on personal cars/jeep/van transport and city transport for commuters entirely being buses and mini-buses that are fueled by biofuel or salt-water ( like the quant car ).

about social harmony, in chaotic countries like india cycles would create the same problems as motorcycles, including the bell ( or siren ) to replace the car horn.

so much hatred for Bike ! got hit by some one riding a bike ?

a few times motorcycles blocked my way or created risky situation as i walked on the footpath and the bike riders trying to illegally cut traffic by climbing onto the footpath that is meant for pedestrians.

other than that everyone in india has faced danger from motorcycles, whether the rider suddenly zooms in as you one tries to cross the road ( on zebra crossing ) or whether one sees multiple insane boys on a single bike doing wheelies on a busy road or putting the center stand down so that it touches the road and creates sparks as the bike zooms past, creating danger for themselves and for others on the road.

is there any ban on bike in Libya ?

in all the photos and vids i have seen of libya or in discussions, there has never been motorcycles seen.