Euler Motors aims to electrify India's last-mile cargo transportation

Betting big on the growing opportunity to cater to the last-mile logistics needs with an efficient and affordable electric three and four-wheeler, the Delhi-based start-up is developing an indigenous environment-friendly alternative to the conventional IC engine vehicles to contribute towards a greener India. 

Globally and in India, rising vehicular pollution causes massive challenges. India ranks among the top countries worldwide with the highest numbers of polluting cities; vehicles, both personal and commercial, are among the largest sources of this pollution. To overcome this massive challenge, the government wants India to lead the global electric vehicle industry. To achieve this goal, companies are encouraged with a lot of incentives and support for manufacturing and technology development in EVs. 

Apart from the government, electric vehicles are one area that has attracted several entrepreneurs to venture into this growing area for an early technological breakthrough. One such company is Euler Motors, an automotive technology EV start-up. Founded in 2018 with an ambition to bring affordable and yet technologically superior 3 and 4 wheeler light commercial electric vehicles solutions for cargo and passengers' needs. 

The company has embarked on an ambitious goal, yet its young founder and motivated teams are already hitting the ground running with early success in this area. Euler Motors has supplied an initial batch of electric-three wheeler to corporations such as Big Basket, Ecom Express, Udaan, Milk Basket. More than 200 three-wheelers are currently operational by undertaking efficient last-mile cargo duties. These 3-wheelers can take a cargo load between 300-400 kg with a volumetric capacity of 65-70 cubic meters, equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack of 6 kW/h. 

In a conversation with TrucksDekho, Saurav Kumar, CEO, Euler Motors, expressed confidence that the company is on the right path to bring some of the most efficient, affordable and reliable electric 3W to India consumers. "We believe two-wheeler and three-wheeler are the major contributors to the pollution in Indian cities and towns and if we address this massive issue facing the country by offering alternative environment-friendly vehicles that would make a lot of difference," he said. 

The first batch of 3-wheeler was an attempt to get the right cargo 3-wheeler for Indian cities like Delhi. It was a collaborative effort with a lot of material sourced from different suppliers worldwide, and the vehicles were built in India. After initial trials with corporate customers, the vehicle quickly proved itself due to strong, easy to use and cheaper to run than the conventional IC engine vehicles. Most of the customers were extremely satisfied with the vehicle's performance opted more vehicles, which proved critical. After running these vehicles for close to two years, Euler has gathered some vital insights and real-time data on vehicle operations. 

Remember, India's electric three-wheeler segment has been booming in recent years as they now become popular in the last-mile people and cargo-carrying needs. Hence, enticed a lot of local as well as established players towards the segment. Apart from the numerous local players, this market is presently catered by some of India's prominent vehicle makers, such as Mahindra, Piaggio, Atul Auto, Kinetic, Lohia Auto, etc. 

Gets Ready For Bigger Play

Equipped with learning from the initial batch of electric 3-wheeler, Euler Motor now embarked on a much larger goal of developing a completely indigenous vehicle for corporate and individual buyers. The company has developed advanced vehicle design capabilities, manufacturing, sourcing, and targeting affordable prices by developing key components locally. Additionally, a lot of customers feedback has been incorporated, developing the new set of 3-wheelers. 

The company now is developing a new range of cargo electric 3-wheelers, which are likely to be commercially launched early next year. "In India there is a lot of expectation from EVs, we are quite hopeful the learning from our first 200 vehicles will help us build a lot better vehicles by addressing the majority of issues as we get ready without new products", says Kumar. 

The new 3-wheelers are designed and engineered in-house by its engineers with vital inputs from its suppliers. Furthermore, a lot of learning has gone into the development by using the operating conditions and duty-cycles of Indian cities and towns. The plan is to source nearly 90 percent of the parts locally in order to make them more affordable to the last-mile fleet-operators, entrepreneurs, or small businesses. To make them highly reliable and super quality, the manufacturing capacities have been increased to 100 vehicles per month. The team at Euler Motors is also focused on developing most of the parts within the country, including the most critical lithium-ion battery pack that could deliver the range required for intra-city delivery in all-weather, temperature and road conditions.

 Envision an Ecosystem 

Along with an ambitious product road-map, Euler Motors is also working on complete ecosystems to address the EV barriers and increase the adoption of light electric commercial vehicles by offering full-electric mobility as a service. The company considers itself a full-fledged OEM working on vehicle manufacturing, software, infrastructure, and service networks. The necessary infrastructure is key ahead of the vehicle's commercial launch to get the customer confidence and address the range anxiety and serving concerns.  

These are critical areas for the company's growth plans; hence Euler has already established a network of 100+ charging infrastructure in Delhi NCR for charging 200+ electric vehicles at any point. The infrastructure development approach consists of multiple paths, such as some of the charging stations at the customer's place, while others at the company's select locations. Work is underway in identifying various charging network elements such as the locations, the time to charge, the various NCR areas including industrial zones, high traffic areas, the transformer loads availability, allowing other vehicles, etc. The company is also open to partnerships with other players in the space. 

Euler has recently raised Rs 20 crore as a part of its ongoing Series A funding led by the Inventus Capital India. A team of nearly 350 people, Euler, is racing ahead to take on the enormous opportunity in the EVs, not dampened by the ongoing pandemic. Still, sharply focused on bringing its more ambitious EVs to market that the customers would help the owner prosper and save the environment.  

While the EV space as a whole in India is getting intensely competitive, Euler is unperturbed by its rivals. As a matter of fact, it sees healthy competition as a positive element that brings the best from each company. 

"Over the next 3-5 years, our focus will remain on the commercial vehicle segment and the 3 and 4 wheeler cargo segment. The best thing we are doing at Euler is contributing to the environment which is one of the most happiest parts of what we do and we are happy with the competition in the overall electric vehicles in India", concludes an optimistic Kumar. 

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