INCONVERSATION Amit Das

Founder & CEO, Electric One

Conversation Highlights

The Economic Survey 2023 predicts that India's domestic electric vehicle market will see a 49 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2022 and 2030, with 10 million annual sales by 2030 The concept of Electric One was to provide a platform for a wide range of electric scooters, electric cycles, and electric three-wheelers under one roof with the superstore format

The electric vehicle industry is projected to create around 50 million direct and indirect jobs by 2030

How has been Electric One's journey so far?

Talking about the Electric One journey from the beginning, E1 was just an idea, not a business, then converting this dream idea into a great business was the main challenge We started Electric One when the whole country was facing the problem of Covid 19 The concept of Electric One was to provide a platform for a wide range of electric scooters, electric cycles, and electric three-wheelers under one roof with the superstore format Working consistently on this dream with my team, we started growing our presence from 1 store to 10, then gradually from 10 to 30 and now our presence is in 18 states, 85 cities, and 103 stores in total E1 has always been an exciting journey with the objective of achieving the milestone of 1000 stores in the upcoming years.

Electric one USP:

Standard showroom Look and feel

Ease of Business

Sales and technical trainings

Integrated warranty and after sales support

Better ROI

More footfall via digital marketing Support

How do you see the evolving EV space in India? Are we on the right track to becoming a global market?

Talking about the EV Space, it’s evolving at a great speed, due to some of the reasons which include increasing foreign direct investment, new manufacturing hubs, and mainly with improved charging infrastructure Other growth factors for the EV industry include government subsidies and policies that favor deeper discounts for Indian-made electric vehicles and ACC battery storage products in the country However, investors, especially in India, need the incentive to start investing in this sector

Yes, we are on the right track to becoming the global market, in fact this is India’s decade of EV transformation and becoming a global EV hub. The Economic Survey 2023 predicts that India's domestic electric vehicle market will see a 49 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2022 and 2030, with 10 million annual sales by 2030 Additionally, the electric vehicle industry is projected to create around 50 million direct and indirect jobs by 2030

By focusing on some of the key factors India can become the EV Global Market

The Lithium cell is the centrepiece of the EV era There is a lot of innovation to be done to improve the performance, safety and cost of cells

We need to build local supply chains for new materials and components We can just be final assemblers of the products This includes motors, rare earth magnets, power electronics semiconductors lithium processing, and electrode production

India has to master the process of battery making as the battery has nearly 1/3 of the cost of the electric vehicle.

Are the current policies and initiatives enough to encourage the EV Push and how do you see the impact of the Make In India initiative on the market?

Yes the current policies and initiatives are enough to encourage EV Push in India Some of the policies are –

Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME II) – Demand incentives

It offers demand incentives for vehicles which helps to lower the price at which they are purchased The incentive granted by FAME II had been raised from Rs 10,000 per kWh to Rs 15,000 per kWh That is a 50% increase

Production-linked incentive (PLI) Scheme State

PLIs are essentially company financial incentives to increase their output This makes it easier to provide the items to customers at a lower price The electronics industry will be greatly impacted by this plan, which will also help the nation advance in this field This program offers various advantages to EV manufacturers, including a direct subsidy to consumers who buy EVs Under this plan, cell battery and automobile component sectors are also included

To assist national initiatives relating to electric mobility, numerous states have implemented their own EV regulations to enhance a sustainable future. State policies exist in 50% of the states The state EV policies include:

Financial incentives for EV purchases, exemption from road taxes and car registration fees, and low loan interest rates for EV purchases

Initiatives to buy more electric vehicles are also included for last-mile delivery services and public transportation

Infrastructures for producing batteries for EVs and accompanying charging infrastructures are being built

The Make In India has a great positive impact on market

Some of the impact of Make In India are –

India gets Asia’s longest and world’s fifthlongest High-Speed Track for automobiles.

India is becoming the largest EV market for electronic 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and cars

India is projected to be the world's thirdlargest automotive market in terms of volume by 2026

How will you evaluate the market acceptance so far? What are the key retarding factors for the anticipated market growth?

So far very low market of automotive consumers have adopted to EV Despite the launch of products by incumbent OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and new players, the EV penetration is extremely low at 0 8% The split of overall EVs in India, by twowheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers, is 17%, 79%, 4% respectively The reasons for the failure can be looked at under the following dimensions.

One of the key reasons for limited adoption of electric vehicles can be attributed to the lack of innovation on the product front So far, companies failed to spotlight the practicality of an electric vehicle for the value-conscious Indian consumers

As the leading EV Super Store in India, which are your most targeted segments? What Will Be Your Mantra to Win the Indian EV Market?

My most targeted segment will be the 2Wheeler market because of the following reasons-

2-wheelers are the most affordable to purchase

Most of the country’s population use to commute via 2-wheeler only

As 2 wheeler saves most of the traffic times

May it be any road, a mountain trail or a city road full of traffic, a 2-wheeler can go anywhere

According to me the mantra to win the Indian EV Market would be by managing the following factors –

For two-wheelers and four-wheelers, EVs are sold at a 20% and 50% premium respectively as compared to the Internal Combustion (IC) vehicles This high upfront cost is not favourable for the valueconscious Indian consumers who would rather prefer a cheaper IC vehicle

This comes as no surprise For six lakh electric vehicles on the road today, we have roughly 2,000 public charging stations. This poor density of the charging stations is limiting the ease of EV usage Lack of battery and charger standardization coupled with high capital intensity of setting up charging or swapping stations has emerged as a major infrastructural bottleneck.

You had a recent JV with Sri Lanka How do you see this JV and what would be the key takeaways for the Indian EV industry through this JV?

This JV is going to be a major milestone for both India and Sri Lanka in the field of Electric Mobility The new innings at Sri Lanka with Mr Arjuna Ranatunga is going to shape the way of mobility in Sri Lanka providing citizens with an affordable mode of personal transport and a choice to choose from the widest and most versatile range of electric scooters and motorcycles of high quality under one roof We are looking forward to hitting a century of stores across Sri Lanka under the able guidance of Mr Arjuna and team sooner and excited to strengthen our presence with strong after-sales support

The key takeaways for the Indian EV industry through this JV would be they would be able to expand and strengthen their business into the international market as we do As our JV with Sri Lanka is now in the ears of other countries big EV players would try to JV with our country players The main benefit the EV Industry would get through this venture is Investment as JV is the main point of attraction for Foreign Investment

The concept of Electric One was to provide a platform for a wide range of electric scooters, electric cycles, and electric three-wheelers under one roof with the superstore format. Working consistently on this dream with my team, we started growing our presence from 1 store to 10, then gradually from 10 to 30 and now our presence is in 18 states, 85 cities, and 103 stores in total."