ISLAMABAD, July 17: It was a special sort of road test when Environment Minister Hameedullah Jan Afridi got to try out not only a brand new motorbike but also one of the first viable examples of a whole different engine technology.

The minister got his hands on an electric motorbike, manufactured in Multan, having a top speed of 65km and 50km commuting range on fully charged batteries. And it took about four-and-a-half hours to come up to full charge.

The motorbike was officially launched at Enercon building here on Thursday evening.

The contraption seemed like a promising early taste of what was in store when the electronic motorbikes hit the market.

The 600 watts motorbike was powered by three rechargeable batteries of 16 volts each. Per kilometre cost of operation was 16 paisas on commercial rates and 12 paisas on domestic rates of electricity.

The motor bicycle performed satisfactorily in the plains and could carry two persons of up to a total weight of 180kg. The motor bicycle, however, tended to slow down on gradients. At present the retail price of the electric motorbike was Rs34,000.

“The idea is to announce to the people of a cheaper contraption on road. It is a simple technology that will very soon be indigenized,” said Enercon Managing Director Faridullah Khan.

“The machine is on the road already. We are trying to bring the price down to approximately Rs20,000. And the newer versions will be fitted with batteries that can recharge using solar energy,” the managing director said, adding that there was no engine and hence the operation of the electric motor bicycle was without any pollution and noise.

The electric motor bicycle introduced was not just environment-friendly without noise or pollution, but was also a source of conservation of energy since it did not consume petroleum products and ran on meagre power consumption thus a cheaper operation compared to a motorcycle running on petrol.