A Pune-based startup, Emotorad, is showing that e-cycles are good for health, the environment and the economy.
A six-month-old company, Emotorad, is defying the current economic gloom by making sales of 1,200 e-cyles in just a month-and-a-half. By the end of the first quarter of this year, they intend to close more than 100 dealerships across India and sell more than 12,000 e-bikes to penetrate the Indian market.
“We believe that a set of Indian commuters is looking for better commute options that fit the pocket. Given the current infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) in the country, our products have emerged as a viable solution for them. The push from the government through schemes such as Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles, Phase II (Fame 2) have encouraged the end-user to adopt EVs,” says Aditya Oza, co-founder and CMO.
Aditya Oza and Sumedh Battewar
The products from their brand are a dual-suspension e-bike called EMX and the T-Rex, which is designed for the rough Indian terrain. They are among the EVs that are merging across India as startups by young enthusiasts respond to the global and government push towards clean commuting and green energy. “We had been working towards launching the company even before the pandemic struck. What is surprising is that people now want to move away from the congested commute options such as metros, locals and buses. The change in the mindset of people to stay healthy and make changes has happened during the pandemic, which worked in our favour,” says Sumedh Battewar, co-founder and Business Development Head.
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The initial success has made a few investors interested in the company and talks are on to scale up internationally. “Our vision is to play a big part in helping India shift to a green commute. We believe our competitors and we have an obligation to raise awareness, push each other for better innovations, and put forward the best products to gain consumer trust in EV as a whole. Our dependencies on big and small players coming up in the segment of manufacturing battery cells, motors, and motor controllers, among others, shall only increase with time. It is our responsibility to promote them alongside Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India programmes to develop the best of technology for us and the world,” says Oza.
Is the market slowdown and the post-pandemic job market a hindrance to the rise of EVs in India? “We need to go beyond the buying power of consumers to see the lifecycle cost she or he incurs. We need to make them aware of how on a holistic-level EV brings a lot of savings, not only on the pocket but the environment in terms of carbon footprints,” says Battewar.