Royal Enfield is working on a brand-new self-developed electric platform and our sister publication, Autocar Professional, has learned that there is significant progress being made on two products - codenamed L1A and L1K. With the projects reaching a critical milestone, an entire floor has been given to the EV team at the company's corporate office in OMR in Chennai, said people in the know.
One of the several people in the know said, the L1A is going to be amongst the lightest vehicle architecture developed and could carry the Flying Flea badge.
The Royal Enfield Flying Flea was a lightweight motorcycle developed as a means of transport that could be dropped by parachute on the battlefields of WWII, to quickly carry messages between airborne and assault troops., Post the war, it served as an inexpensive means of transportation. Taking that into account, Royal Enfield could position the electric Flying Flea as an entry-level model targeted at commuters.
The first tooled-up L1A bike is likely to be ready within the next 6 months and it may be a single seater. The company has put in a lot of effort to ensure that it keeps the kerb weight as low as possible to ensure usable decent range and performance.
The second project – L1K – is likely to have the form factor of an ADV bike. Powertrains are being developed to deliver in the region of 16kW of peak power with 9kW of continuous power output. This is almost three times the peak power of the Ather 450X and is equivalent to its current 350cc motorcycles.
Both the L1A and L1K are likely to be powered by 60–120 volt battery architecture, while the motorcycle based on the Stark VARG's architecture may get a 350-volt battery, which is four to five times higher than the Tata Tiago EV. There is a 48-60 volt LFP (Lithium Ferrous Phosphate) battery (like the one found on the Oben Rorr) also being explored for a more affordable alternative.
For the L1A and L1K bikes Royal Enfield is planning to produce 60,000 units per annum, which is likely to double in 2026 and the predominant share of the models will be for export markets.