Sri Lanka’s first home-grown electric family car Moksha breaks cover

• With 65% local value addition, production expected to begin in November
• 200 km of range from 10 units worth charging
• Designed to give solutions to energy and environmental crises

 By Darshana Abayasingha

Ideal Motors is on the move unveiling Sri Lanka’s first home-grown fully-electric car in Colombo yesterday. 

The Lankan-built ‘Moksha’ offers 200 km of range and comes packed with style, space, comfort and modern connectivity. It is billed to roll out by November this year, once commercial production begins following further testing.

Classified as a four-wheeled electric quadricycle, the ‘Moksha’ is fitted with a 22.46 kWh Lithium battery plugging into a 15-amp domestic charger. With a weight of just 870 kg, the car seats four persons including the driver, fully-airconditioned, and comes equipped with a 7-inch multimedia touchscreen display armed with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. 

“My dream of manufacturing a homegrown electric car in Sri Lanka was realised today, with the unveiling of our Ideal Moksha. We have manufactured a Sri Lankan car on our soil, that’s what we have done today. It is a completely green product, and it will also help us transform from a market economy to a production economy,” said Ideal Motors Chairman Nimal Welgama during the launch event. 

He remarked the car will serve as a solution to the ongoing fuel crisis, plus, support sustainable mobility initiatives to combat climate change.

“This is a people’s car; it is for everyone. We were keen to take this car as close as possible to European standards. We can enhance production because the production process is fairly seamless compared to a traditional internal combustion engine. The factory is already designed and planned. We anticipate good demand, and we are trying to keep the price below Rs. 4 million,” Welgama stated.

The Ideal Moksha will now undergo different trials in varied terrain before being submitted for approval. Up to 65% of the value addition for the Moksha is done locally, and only the battery, motor and EV architecture are imported. 

It was revealed it is imperative to do the battery management system programming locally, as that gives manufacturers better control over the car. Accordingly, the manufacturer can set up heat-based cut off parameters according to local requirements, when the battery is assembled here.

The Moksha achieves a full charge with just 10 units of electricity, which gives it a range of 200 kms. As there are no maintenance costs, the car would become an ideal solution for Sri Lankan families in the current milieu. Ideal Motors said it will manufacture the Moksha completely for local production at the outset.

The company also unveiled a fully-electric moped made in Sri Lanka, and a retrofit kit that will enable migration of a combustion engine to an electric engine for motorcycles. The Ideal Group is also offering customers a package for a total green solution along with their purchase of the Ideal Moksha. 

It includes the installation of up to 4 kW of rooftop solar energy, where an average household will be able to meet their daily requirements of energy and completely do away with paying electricity bills. The moped takes only 1 unit to charge and rides 80 km thereon.

Drawing inspiration from the iconic Austin Mini Moke that took the world by storm, the Ideal Moksha is geared to be a game changer for the Sri Lankan market and the most practical solution in the current technology transition phase towards a sustainable, carbon-neutral future. 

As the name depicts, ‘Moksha’ is intended to provide a blissful driving experience with advanced technology and design principles embedded in every detail – a new solution for Sri Lanka’s roads that offers style, space, comfort, and connectivity.

Pix by Lasantha Kumara