New Delhi’s skyline often greets its residents with a hazy silhouette. On many days, according to various air quality monitoring agencies including IQAir, the city’s Air Quality Index lingers well above 300, placing it in the hazardous range. In fact, a 2022 World Air Quality Report stated that New Delhi tops the charts as one of the most polluted major cities on the planet, with fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations far exceeding guidelines set by the World Health Organization. The impact on people’s daily lives is immense: children walk to school masked, older adults battle chronic respiratory issues, and commuters—riding the city’s ubiquitous bikes—struggle to navigate through the blanket of smog that often descends. Yash Vinod Bhaiswar, an engineer dedicated to designing more sustainable mobility solutions, found both his inspiration and urgency to take part in India’s electric vehicle revolution.
“When you grow up seeing the morning sun hidden behind a thick gray haze, you can’t help but wonder if technology can offer a cleaner alternative,” Yash says, recalling his early fascination with machines and how they intersect with the environment. After completing a mechanical engineering degree and contributing to various automotive projects at two major manufacturers, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp, he realized just how vast the potential was for transforming conventional two-wheelers into electric alternatives. “I wanted to apply my engineering skills to tackle the very real, urgent problem of pollution in our cities. Working on electric bikes gave me that chance.”
In India, two-wheelers are an integral part of everyday life. According to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, our country accounts for one of the largest two-wheeler markets in the world, with millions sold each year to a broad demographic spanning urban professionals, college students, and small-town shopkeepers. These vehicles remain affordable, easy to navigate through dense traffic, and fuel-efficient. Yet they contribute significantly to air pollution in cities already burdened by industrial emissions, construction dust, and agricultural residue burning in nearby states. Hero MotoCorp, known for its vast market reach and iconic commuter bikes, recognized the shift toward sustainable mobility as both a challenge and an opportunity. That is precisely where Yash stepped in, leveraging his background in project management and engineering to guide a new electric vehicle development program within the company.
“We began by studying the local market: what do riders in New Delhi, Bengaluru, or even smaller towns in Uttar Pradesh need?” he explains. The team realized early on that their electric bike had to be accessible—not just in price, but in terms of usability. Charging infrastructure remains a stumbling block in India, where public charging stations are limited. “It wasn’t just about building a bike,” Yash recalls. “We wanted to transform how a typical commuter in a crowded Indian city experiences mobility. That meant accounting for everything from battery range to the size of a household’s parking space.”
India’s government has taken several measures to incentivize electric vehicles, including the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME II) scheme. These policies encourage manufacturers to innovate and offer more affordable EV options, especially for two-wheelers. Still, the hurdles remain considerable. Battery packs are one of the most expensive components, and localizing production to reduce costs can be complicated. Yash and his team tackled these obstacles by partnering with suppliers across India and abroad, investigating new chemistries that could meet performance standards without inflating the vehicle’s price tag. They also ran multiple simulations using data analytics tools to optimize the bike’s weight distribution and aerodynamics, ensuring that the final product could handle the wear and tear of daily commutes while maintaining a respectable range on a single charge.
In addition to the technical dimension, Yash found motivation in the social and human aspect of his work. He recounts visiting a residential area in New Delhi where families live in close quarters and rely on two-wheelers for almost everything, from dropping children at school to shopping at local markets. “You see older people coughing, children wearing masks. It drives home that this isn’t a trivial engineering puzzle; it’s about creating a healthier environment for everyone.” The quiet hum of an electric motor, as opposed to the roar of an internal combustion engine, can make a surprising difference in neighborhoods packed tightly together. Even a small reduction in noise levels can improve quality of life, not to mention the direct decrease in tailpipe emissions that electric bikes offer.
Yash’s day-to-day routine as a program manager and engineer on the project involved a delicate balance of design optimization, supply chain coordination, and policy awareness. One morning might find him testing a new battery mount for vibration resistance; the afternoon would be spent in discussions with government representatives or infrastructure start-ups exploring partnerships for public charging stations. “We needed to ensure that once our bikes hit the market, riders didn’t have to scramble to figure out where or how to charge,” he says. That sense of holistic responsibility—encompassing not just the product but also the ecosystem around it—became a hallmark of Hero MotoCorp’s electric initiative.
Yet even the most well-designed prototypes face real-world hurdles. Yash recalls the pilot testing phase: “We took an early model out on the streets of Delhi, partly to test performance in real traffic conditions, partly to see how people would react.” The bike proved maneuverable and pleasantly quiet, but charging it overnight in apartment complexes sometimes meant dealing with limited or shared parking spaces lacking electrical outlets. The solution involved working with local communities to install communal charging points. “When you look at the bigger picture, bridging that gap between manufacturers, local authorities, and residents is what will truly drive adoption,” he notes.
The impact of such initiatives extends well beyond metropolitan hubs. Smaller towns scattered across the northern plains and also the coasts in India primarily rely on two-wheelers for daily commutes because there are not enough public transport facilities. An electric bike designed optimally as a workhorse but also as an affordable pricing option holds great prospects as a center of clean mobility in regions characterized by seasonal air pollution due to dust or agricultural burning. "By engineering a bike that's built for India's road realities, we're also writing a product that can find success in many similar markets much across Southeast Asia and Africa," Yash says, referring to Hero MotoCorp's far-reaching export footprint. This broader context suggests how electric two-wheelers would throw ripples across emerging economies, which experience parallel challenges related to pollution.
The thrust on electric vehicles is also expected to create jobs in local manufacturing, services, and maintenance. Batteries, motors, and advanced electronics will all require a specialized skill set, thus encouraging vocational training programs. As far as Yash is concerned, this is one more constructive byproduct of moving to the EV vehicle world: "Every time a new supplier invests in battery pack assembly, or a dealership trains technicians on electric drivetrains, we're building technical capacity right here at home. That has long-term benefits for India."
At times, the pressure is palpable, especially when balancing ambitious environmental goals, financial constraints for the average consumer, and the race to stay ahead of competitors in a rapidly evolving market. Yet Yash remains optimistic. “We’re still in the early innings of India’s EV story,” he says. The early adopters—often eco-conscious riders or technology enthusiasts—serve as proof points that electric bikes can succeed. As manufacturing scales up and infrastructure catches up, costs should come down, paving the way for mass adoption. Yash believes that with consistent policy support, solid R&D, and community engagement, electric two-wheelers can become a mainstream choice for millions of Indians.
The prospect of seeing less polluted skies isn’t just a distant dream for Yash. He envisions a future in which the hum of electric vehicles, powered by increasingly efficient and locally produced batteries, dominates the roads. He imagines a landscape where children no longer have to don masks just to go about their day, where daily commutes aren’t synonymous with a fresh dose of particulate matter, and where the collective efforts of engineers, policy-makers, and citizens converge to redefine urban living. “Every small success we achieve—be it designing a better battery mount or reducing production costs—brings us a step closer to a cleaner tomorrow,” he says.
In New Delhi, even minor reductions in air pollution can significantly improve public health outcomes, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board. While it may take years to see drastic changes in the city’s air quality indices, the work being done at firms like Hero MotoCorp, guided by individuals like Yash, lays an important foundation. The developments in electric bikes hint at how technology can intersect with environmental stewardship, community health, and economic opportunity. As Yash puts it, “We’re not just making a new bike. We’re trying to redefine what progress looks like in a country poised to leapfrog into a more sustainable era.”
That sense of redefining progress resonates throughout his journey from a curious engineering student to a project manager steering electric vehicle programs. For Yash, it’s a chance to see a tangible, positive change in the lives of people who depend on two-wheelers every single day. For the communities living under New Delhi’s infamous smog, it could mark the beginning of a paradigm shift—a shift where engineering ingenuity helps recast the capital’s skyline into something a little less gray and a lot more hopeful.