Talking about the advantage startups have over older players in the EV game, Vora explained: “One of the main differences is that we don’t have the luggage of an ICE vehicle with us.”
“If you look at the main players, the conventional two-wheeled players, they have this baggage to carry. Their main revenue comes from ICE vehicles. It is not electric vehicles that account for the largest share of their revenues. Currently, 90% of revenue comes from gasoline vehicles and only 10% from electric vehicles. This stops them from going all out in promoting electric vehicles. Secondly, all these conventional ICE players have more premium products. So, as a startup, we are focusing on the sub-1 lakh category, which is most of India.”
Currently, across all segments, EVs are priced significantly higher than their ICE counterparts. “So our target is to produce an electric vehicle worth less than Rs 1 lakh. So if your ICE and EV are the same you have to pay zero premium, probably 5000 cheaper, then there will be an automatic shift towards EVs and not ICE. Since the initial cost of ownership is similar, the total cost of ownership is sure to come down drastically as your vehicle will be running for 25 paise per kilometer here and at 3 rupees per kilometer there.
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India’s FAME-II electric vehicle incentive program ended in March 2024. However, the government has launched a modern program – Electric mobility promotion program (EMPS) 2024, April 1. It is basically a short-lived scheme with an allocation of Rs 500 crore, focusing on subsidizing electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers for the first four months (April-July 2024). Speaking of impact SŁAWA-II and if the sector needs subsidies, he said: “Definitely FAME-II has played a very massive role in creating public awareness to at least assist them get a taste of electric vehicles compared to conventional vehicles, because there needs to be some encouragement for people to try something modern and this is what made by FAME.
“Today, although subsidies have dropped dramatically, initially from PLN 60,000 to PLN 22,000, they have now reached the level of 10,000 caps. So subsidies are definitely decreasing. But today the customer is very aware of electric vehicles. No industry can survive forever on subsidies. So, we were prepared for this and designed our entire system in such a way that even without subsidy, our products cost less than ₹1 lakh and can compete with regular petrol vehicles.”
Talking about what the company is focusing on in the future – B2B or B2C – Vora explained that the company is doing quite well in the market B2B sector and the company received many orders from immense B2B players. “But our main focus and main area of focus will be the B2C segment. As a long-term strategy, we are focused on B2C.”
“Currently, 80% of our revenue comes from B2C and only 20% from B2B,” he noted. “Between scooters and motorcycles, the ratio is definitely more or less similar again. Honestly, about 10-15% comes from motorcycles and 85% from scooters.”
There has been a forceful recent focus on ensuring the safety of e2W electric vehicles, with a range of tests and certifications required to ensure that an electric vehicle is unthreatening for operate on public roads. Vora explained how the company ensures safety at the end: “We carry out tests to ensure that the product has a very long lifespan. In the case of the chassis, we carry out a test during which the life of the chassis is determined. Then, for shockers, we conduct a bike test where about a lakh cycles are tested. There are many component tests that are performed independently of government tests. So component-level testing ensures that the product we install in the vehicle is up to and above industry standards.”
“Vehicle level test, battery in EIS 156 standard. Battery in EIS 156 standard. Because there have been battery incidents before. That’s why now the government has very strict standards for battery testing. The battery test is now complete. An engine level test was performed. A lot of testing has been done to ensure that the final product that reaches the consumer is very unthreatening to operate.”
