Rewriting the automobile history in Sri Lanka Ideal Motors yesterday unveiled Sri Lanka’s first home-grown fully-electric car under the brand name ‘Ideal Moksha,’ the Company also launched a fully electric moped.
With a local value addition of over 60% and drawing inspiration from the iconic Austin Mini Moke, this fully-electric car is to be priced at around Rs. 4 million and would be available for sale from November 2022. Founder and Chairman of the Ideal Group Nalin Welgama, said that it was his dream to produce an affordable and reliable and safe vehicle for the use of motor bikes and three wheels as their next upgrade and Ideal Moksha is stepping stone for this.
Classified as a four-wheeled electric quadric cycle, the vehicle is fitted with a 22.46 kWh Lithium battery that provides a range of up to 200 kilometres on a single charge by plugging into a 15-amp domestic charger overnight. The vehicle was developed by Ideal’s own green workshop facility in Ratmalana (the plant itself is fully powered by solar energy) and due to less workmanship in building the car they hope to move to mass production by 2023. The fully air-conditioned car includes, push start, the 7-inch multimedia touch screen display that comes with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto compatibility and alloy wheels. The fully automatic car offers 100% torque from start with no gear changes.
The local vehicle population is 8.1 million and there are 4.7 two wheelers and 1.2 million three wheelers and my products are to capture this market and also help the country to reduce the monthly USD 500 million fuel imports bill where 60% is used to power motor vehicles.”
He also said that the power consumption for charging the E-bike and Ideal Moksha are almost negligible. “This entry-level car has the options and sophistication of cars built by the world’s best auto majors! I fervently hope that this signals a beginning of a new era in the manufacture of EVs in Sri Lanka.”
He said that they will next move into the assembly of car batteries in Sri Lanka and increase local value addition in ‘Ideal Moksha. Ideal Motors also unveiled a retrofit kit that will enable the migration of a combustion engine to an electric engine. “We hope to convert current Petrol motor bikes to E bikes and hope to tie up with a European player for this.”
He also said that electric vehicles were first introduced to the world in 1888 but they were discouraged by fuel suppliers as they saw a huge market in automobiles for fuel sales. He also appealed from authorities to have more electric charging points to popularise E vehicles in Sri Lanka which is now a global trend.
