In the year 2010, India had decided on the initiation of electric vehicles. According to a scheme approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the government announced a financial incentive for manufacturers for electric vehicles sold in India.
In 2013, India unveiled the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 to address the issues of national energy security and growth of domestic manufacturing capabilities. In 2017, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari made a statement showing India’s intent to move to 100 per cent electric cars by 2030.
Electric Vehicle Startups in India
With the concept of sustainable development, the minimization of fuel and energies is the prior thing to do. Electric vehicles replace the needs for fossil fuels in the field of transportation and hence the world of electric vehicles is growing day by day.
There are many startups based on the manufacture of electric vehicles in a huge number. Some of those are listed below:
- Tork motors
- Okinawa
- Revolt Intellicorp
- BattRE electric mobility startup
- Ather energy
- Ultraviolete
- Yulu
- ION Energy
- SmartE
The following information includes facts about those electric vehicles startups.
1. Tork motors
Tork Motors was founded by Kapil Shelke. This company showcased its first product in 2016 in the month of September which is the first electric motorcycle in India. The company is growing by raising its funds from Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola, co-founder of Ola Ankit Bhati, and from the former Chairman of Tata Sons Ratan Tata.
The first electric motorcycle of the company is TX6. The company also launched a vehicle called Yamaha FZ, with an electric motor. But the product could not meet the expectations up to a great extent.
2. Okinawa
It is an Indian electric two wheeler company, situated at Gurugram. The company was founded in 2015 by Jeetender Sharma and Rupali Sharma. The company manufactures 100% Indian electric two wheelers. In Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, there is a manufacturing unit of Okinawa.
The products of the company were showcased at the Auto Expo 2020. The unit manufactures and develops Li-ion powered scooters which are within the affordable price range. In the post lockdown period, the company sold more than a thousand electric scooters.
3. Revolt Intellicorp
In April 2019, the co-founder of Micromax, Rahul Sharma founded the company called Revolt Intellicorp. This is an electric motorcycle manufacturing company. In Manesar, there is a manufacturing unit of Revolt Intellicorp, which has a production capacity of 1.2 lakh units.
The electric bikes manufactured by this company has some special and unique features like LED lighting, Bluetooth connectivity, digital display with real-time bike diagnosis. The company has a project of manufacturing powerful and lightweight motorcycles, like café-racer style motorcycle.
4. BattRE electric mobility startup
BattRE Electric mobility startup is a unit that works on the manufacturing of electric cycles as well as electric scooters. Some of its manufactured products are Lo: EV, IOT. At the initial stage, in 2019, the company had only two units, one was in Maharastra and the other one was in Gujarat. With a very progressive note, now the company has more than 50 dealers in six states of the country.
The company’s recent launch is the BattRE GpSie electric scooter. It was launched in India with a price of 65000 rupees. The product has many upgraded features. Some of those are connected instrumentation, keyless ignition, anti-theft alarm, USB charger.
5. Ather energy
The startup Ather Energy was founded in 2013 by two IIT Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. The startup was established in Bangaluru. The company has launched two electric scooters, named as the 340 and 450. The company also launched Ather Grid and an electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The co-founder of Flipkart Sachin Bansal, Hero MotoCorp, two-wheeler manufacturer funded the startup. Also, a Singapore based company InnoVen Capital, American hedge fund and venture capital investor Tiger Gopal invested in the startup.
The price of the bikes is higher in comparison to some other electric bikes manufactured in India. The starting price range of the bikes manufactured by Ather Energy is 113000 rupees. Although, the bike of Ather Energy has a higher price although it is very popular in Bangaluru.
6. Ultraviolette
It is an electric vehicle manufacturing startup started by Niraj Rajmohan and Narayan Subramaniam in the month of December in 2015. The company is Bangaluru based. The TVS Motor Company picked a 15 percent stake in this startup in August, 2018.
The company launched its first product in November 2019, named as F77. The product can be accelerated from standstill to 60 kmph in 2.9 seconds only. The top speed that the motorcycle can attain is 140 kmph. The company has a plan to spread itself all over the country in the coming year.
7. Yulu
Yulu is a startup started by the co-founder of InMobi, Amit Gupta in 2017. The company is established in Bangalore. The company is also a bike sharing platform and it uses Internet of Things (IoT) to address the traffic problems.
The startup has many operational units in Pune, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar. In the year 2019, in November, the investors of the company invested more funds in it. So the company is planning to manufacture and build a strong electric vehicle infrastructure by using great amount of fund.
8. ION Energy
It is an advanced battery management platform centered around building technologies that improve Li-ion battery’s life and performance. The founder of ION Energy, Akhil has started to work on electric vehicles startup, motivated by the fact that an electric motor can cover the larger part of expenses of the car due to internal combustion engine.
The startup was started in Mumbai, in the year 2016.
9. SmatE
The startup is a Delhi based startup that deals with electric vehicles. In the last 5 years, the company developed 30 three wheeler electric vehicles and 1000 other electric vehicles in Delhi NCR.
Author
Sunmoni Gohain
NIT Silchar
