Okinawa Scooters that is a lately introduced electric vehicles manufacturing firm, send two of its e-scooters, the Praise-e in order to conquer the highest motorable road in the world, Khardung La Pass. The scooter anyhow managed to reach the destination set at a high altitude of 18,380 feet and 1,350kms away in just 10 days.
The expedition starts from brand’s corporate office, Gurgaon. Okinawa’s Managing Director Jeetender Sharma, Chairperson Rupali Sharma and all the brand’s pan-India dealers, flagged off the journey. During the Journey, the riders pass through the places like Ambala, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Banihal, Ganderbal, Sonamarg, Srinagar, Bhimbat, Lamayuru, before reaching Leh and then Khardung La.
Reaching to that highest altitude destination most times becomes the toughest task even for the vehicles with combustion engines. For these e-scooters, it was kind of impossible one. But with the support of lithium-ion batteries which can easily be swapped and charged at stopovers like tea stalls and food points, the riders managed to reach the destination without any serious issue.
The equipped lithium-ion batteries offer a travel range of 170-200km per charge and the top speed ranging 55-75kmph under different speed modes including Economy, Sporty and Turbo. It takes 2-2.5 hours for a full charge.
Mr. Jeetender Sharma, Managing Director, Okinawa Autotech expressed its joy post completing campaign successfully,“The ‘Praise De Himalaya’ campaign is the first and one-of-its-kind journey of an e-scooter to an extremely high-altitude zone where it is very difficult to attempt two-wheeler expeditions. While many apprehensions were raised on Praise’s ability to complete such a difficult journey, we at Okinawa were confident of our vehicle’s capabilities to complete the trip successfully.
It is not every day that an e-vehicle comfortably completes a voyage of 1350 km and reaches a height of 18,380 ft. Through the ‘Praise De Himalaya’ campaign, we wanted to ‘Fight for Height ’i.e. the different psychological barriers and biases that stop a consumer from opting for an e-vehicle. We sincerely believe that Praise’s unique achievement will bring forth a transformation in the way that e-vehicles are viewed in the country.”
As of now, the company is retailing only the standard variant of Praise with the lead-acid battery. It is priced at INR 59,889 (ex-showroom, Delhi). The top spec Praise variant with lithium-ion battery is expected to go on sale by end of September this year. In the segment, the Praise confronts opponents such as the Twenty Two Motors Flow and the Ather 340 and Ather 450.