Kinetic Engineering Limited is an Indian automotive manufacturer. The company was founded in the year 1972 by H. K. Firodia. Today it is an automotive component manufacturer which formerly sold two-wheelers under the brand names Kinetic Honda and later Kinetic Motors. It introduced the Kinetic Luna moped which sold well domestically and was exported extensively to

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, and the

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. Later Kinetic Engineering formed a joint venture with Honda Motor Company to introduce Kinetic Honda scooters, which had electric start and gearless transmissions. Kinetic and Honda parted ways in 1998 when the Firodias bought the majority stake of the joint venture from Honda. In 2008, Kinetic entered into a joint venture with Mahindra Automobiles, where Mahindra held an 80% stake. By this joint venture, Mahindra acquired the two-wheeler manufacturing facilities as well as the then selling brands of Kinetic. After ceasing two-wheeler manufacturing, Kinetic Engineering produces and exports automotive components. Kinetic Motors resumed operations in January 2011 and has announced plans to produce

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

s under the newly launched Kinetic Green Brand. A new version of the Luna called the E-LUNA launched in February 2024. The prebookings were open from on 26 Jan 2024

At present,KEL aims to re-enter the Motorcycle segment, having the Kinetic E-Luna and various other brands in production via its Subsidiary- Kinetic Green. The company is currently working on electric Two and Three wheelers. In February 2014, Kinetic sold its stake in Mahindra Two-Wheelers to Samena Capital for 182

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

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s. In 2015

MV Agusta MV Agusta (, full name: MV AGUSTA Motor S.p.A., original name: Meccanica Verghera Agusta or MV) is an Italian high end motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded by Domenico Agusta, Count Domenico Agusta on 19 January 1945 as one of the branches of ...

entered a partnership with Kinetic Group for its Indian debut.

Kinetic Luna

Kinetic Luna is a 50 cc

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle eng ...

that was introduced by Kinetic Engineering in India in 1972. The Kinetic Luna continues to be produced and marketed in India. It is marketed in the US as Kinetic TFR. A 35 cc version, the Luna Wings, was also produced. The original Luna of 1972 was a licensed copy of Piaggio Ciao moped. It has since been updated by Kinetic until the end of production in early 2000s.

Models

Luna kinetic *Luna TFR (out of production) *Luna TFR Plus *Luna Double plus *Luna Wings *Luna Magnum *Luna Super

Kinetic E-Luna

The Kinetic E-Luna is an

Electric bike An electric bicycle, e-bike, electrically assisted pedal cycle, or electrically power assisted cycle is a bicycle with an integrated electric motor used to assist propulsion. Many kinds of e-bikes are available worldwide, but they generally fa ...

build by Kinetic Green and based on the Kinetic Luna. It was launched on February 7, 2024. Kinetic announced that it would start bookings for the E-Luna on26 January with a reservation fee of ₹500.

Development

Kinetic had started a pilot project around September 2023 in some locations of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

with an aim to sell the vehicle to a couple of thousand people and gather customer feedback using

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

models, which were met with success. The company intends to target the Rs 25,000-30,000 monthly income group which uses public transportation, such as shared automobiles or local buses. The company is aiming for 5,000 electric Lunas per month. The company hopes to gross close to Rs 30 crore annually

Design

The e-Luna was introduced with three battery packs. The first batch will have a 2 kWh battery pack which will give a range of 80 km. The company also hopes to introduce a 1.5 kWh battery pack for Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets for a 40–45 km range, and a 3 kWh battery pack, which will give a range of 100–125 km, . the Kinetic E-Luna comes with Telescopic Fork front suspensions and dual shock rear suspension. It would have a top speed of around 60 kph, a weight of , a seat height of , and a ground clearance of 170 mm. The batteries will be made inhouse with three different variants – chargeable, removable and swappable. The model will come with four drive modes - ECO, City, Speed and Sport. It will be more rugged, with an improved halogen headlight and white color-turned indicators on the side. It will have a fully digital console and an app for connectivity control. In December 2024, Kinetic unveiled plans to extend the range of the moped using a 4.3kWh battery pack with a range of 250 kilometres. It was planned to be available by January 2025.

Notes

External links

* {{Two wheelers in India Motorcycle manufacturers of India Scooter manufacturers Companies based in Pune Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in Maharashtra Indian companies established in 1972 Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange