This Startup Is Electrifying Businesses By Providing EV Fleets In March this year, the startup raised $9.5 million in Series A round with additional investments of $2.6M raised from new investor ADB Ventures, the venture investing arm of Asian Development Bank, and existing investor Blume Ventures

If in 2021, we have to be grateful for one thing that is at least making an effort to reverse the immense carbon footprint spewed by humans in the course of the past century, then it has to be non-fossil fuel vehicles. The onset of vehicles had really set the ball rolling for the industrial revolution in the past but had also contributed to air pollution that prevents us from seeing the clear sky. Among clean energy vehicles, electric vehicles have caught eyeballs the most. Quick acceleration, advanced technology, and aesthetic design are some features that have given it an edge.

However, cars and two-wheelers still continue to dominate the EV segment. To have a better impact other segments in EV such as 3W and commercial vehicles also need to be adapted at a faster rate. To support this cause, a Delhi-based startup Euler Motors is working to provide Indian businesses a smoother transition to the EV fleet.

In an interaction with Entrepreneur India, Saurav Kumar, chief executive officer and founder of Euler Motors talks about his journey and what are its plans for the future.

Beginning

Before setting up Euler Motors, Kumar had built Cube26 Software. A first-generation entrepreneur, Kumar raised funds from Tiger Global and Flipkart for Cube26, which was later acquired by PayTM. After exiting from the company, the rising pollution in Delhi caught his attention and saw an opportunity in sustainable mobility and EVs which ended up resulting in the formation of Euler Motors in 2018.

"Euler Motors was founded to accelerate the country's progress towards sustainable transport. Our priority is to make customers understand and concur with the environmental and economic benefits of EVs and enable a smooth transition to an EV fleet," Kumar said.

The startup has focussed primarily on the commercial vehicle segment and claims to design its vehicles in a way keeping Indian road conditions in mind. The startup has added high payload capacities to attract more customers.

At the early stage, the startup's vision was shared by investors such as Blume Ventures, Emergent Capital, and Andrew Lee. The startup then built a 3W commercial vehicle with its indigenous Li-ion battery packs.

In March this year, the startup raised $9.5 million in Series A round with additional investments of $2.6M raised from new investor ADB Ventures, the venture investing arm of Asian Development Bank, and existing investor Blume Ventures.

Enabling Smoother Transition To EV Fleets

Euler Motors is an automotive technology OEM focused on sustainable last-mile delivery fulfillment. To fulfill its aim, the startup has partnered with several e-commerce companies for last-mile delivery in and across Delhi-NCR. Bigbasket, Udaan, EcomExpress, Milkbasket rely on Euler's prototype vehicle to deliver its products in the national capital.

"This has helped them (e-commerce companies) assess real-world operations for an EV fleet, examine technology innovations for future deployment, and evaluate merits and opportunities," Kumar added.

Kumar said that Euler's vehicles have made over 1 million deliveries while reducing carbon emissions of over 2.2 million tonnes with a total distance covered of 11 million e-kilometer milestones.

"We are perhaps only one of the few young OEMs which has not just invested in making vehicles, but also in a service infrastructure to make customers become comfortable with transitioning to EVs as part of their delivery fleet, right from the start," Kumar reasoned.

Euler Motors works with a full-stack model offering EVs as a service which includes vehicles, charging infrastructure, and service & driver training mechanism. At present, they lease 250 vehicles for customer to scale their delivery capabilities in a cost-effective manner while bringing down operating costs.

Future Plans

Though the imposition of strict lockdowns had a major impact on Euler's business, the startup reached its pre-COVID times in terms of kilometer covered and deliveries within a month and completed over lakh delivery across Delhi-NCR in just three months. Moving ahead, the startup is going to launch its L5 three-wheeler cargo, which presumably has the highest range and battery capacity in the category.

"Our priority now will be to scale up the company and ramp up production to meet the demands in the electric three-wheeler segment markets. Euler Motors plans to add a new network of 500+ charging stations by the end of 2021 followed by a new production facility and strengthening its R&D capabilities for new products," he added.

Kumar further added that the company will expand its operation in cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai. The company is also looking at setting up charging stations followed by other production plants and adding more R&D capabilities to develop telematics, forecasting software solutions to enhance vehicles.

The company has registered $1 million in revenue in the financial year (FY 20) and expects to close FY21 with $2 million. Euler Motors aims a ten times growth in terms of revenue to $20 million by 2021-22 and add more e-commerce companies to its lease business portfolio in the coming years.

"With the launch of our new vehicle, we plan to expand and target broader customer portfolios- fleet owners, and customers in sectors such as eCommerce, pharma, fashion, and retail, FMCG, and other utility segments like dairy, poultry, and gas," he added.

Kumar said that in the next two years, two and three-wheelers can fuel a strong electric vehicle demand trend.