The fast growing electric vehicle market in India has seen some innovative startups offering user-friendly, technology driven solutions to end consumers. VA-YU, an EV scooter rental start-up has given a new dimension to ridesharing services in India, offering sustainable mobility solutions for both businesses and individuals. Started in May 2020 by an IIM Alumni with 40 scooters, VA-YU has 300 scooters now and aims to induct 15,000 EVs in Delhi-NCR. We got in touch with Ashish Aggarwal, founder, VA-YU to understand the need of EVs in India and the road ahead.
Q.Tell us about the brand VA-YU and its operations
Founded in 2020 by IIM alumni Ashish Aggarwal, VA-YU is an e-scooters booking platform, it’s an app- based on-demand e-scooter rental service in Delhi/NCR. It provides safe, sustainable, mobility solutions for both businesses and individuals. VA-YU’s genesis came from the need to offer environmentally sustainable transport solutions for an already polluted city.
• VA-YU operating since May 2020 started with 40 scooters and currently has 300 scooters. It already has the largest fleet of scooters in Delhi-NCR.
• App based scooter booking and lifecycle management platform where user has to do their KYC & can book the scooter according to the subscription plan they choose.
• VA-YU has its own repair workshop and a network of travelling mechanics across Delhi NCR.
• VA-YU provides door step service to its users including delivery, services, repairs and maintenance. VA-YU also provides road side assistance to its users.
• Response time is quick as the complaints are resolved within 2-3 hours
Q.What products are you using for rental services?
We provide electric scooters on long term rents where subscriptions range from one week to 3 months and customers are able to experience electric vehicles from as little as Rs 950. VA-YU currently offers sanitized and disinfected scooters to consumer doorsteps at an affordable cost.
The zero-emission, fully electric VA-YU scooter is custom-built for city commutes as well as delivery segments and has a number of anti-theft features. Its 48-volt lithium-ion swappable batteries allow it to go up to 70 kms on a full charge. Integrated GPS technology allows for geo-fencing and remote immobilization.
Q.Why chose electric vehicles over ICE vehicles?
There are many benefits of choosing electric scooters over petrol scooters. Here’s to list a few-
• Higher efficiency, lower fuel cost and lower operational cost makes VA-YU EVs more economical than ICE vehicles
• VA-YU EV’s offer better control on consumption of energy. So businesses are free from petrol pilferages, KM loading and can track and trace where their vehicles are going
• No tailpipe emission as compared to ICE vehicles. Adopting VA-YU EVs helps in reducing local air pollution. In fact 1 electric scooter has the similar effect as planting 100 trees will have
• The lack of a combustion and mechanical drive train makes EVs much quieter and comfortable
• VA-YU EV’s have removable batteries and therefore can be comfortably charged at home
• Reduced dependence of imported fossil fuel for our Country.
Q.What benefits are you offering to your customers?
Additional advantages of renting a VA-YU as compared to purchasing any EV are listed here-
• High quality vehicles carefully chosen for sturdy built and powerful motor. Assured range guarantee of 70 Km per charge
• Range of plans available from 1 week to 6 months with upfront cost of only Rs 950
• One Tap booking on the VA-YU app with seamless payment options. Vehicle delivered to the customers doorsteps
• User liability limited to Rs 1000 only. Comprehensive cover on vehicle & riders (Rs. 5 Lacs Each). IOT enabled vehicles
• VA-YU offers all inclusive package of repair & maintenance within a set time frame
• VA-YU offers doorstep and roadside repairs. VA-YU has a captive workshop and maintains own inventory of spare parts
• Vehicles are also swapped to reduce the downtime
• Users can exit out of the plans at any time without any penalty
• VA-YU rental plans have pause option, during which the vehicle is deployed elsewhere.
Q. Do you plan to make your own vehicles in future?
VA-YU has an experience of over 20 lac KM’s on electric vehicles, which we own repair and maintain everyday. This wealth of data and understanding of usage is scares in India. So we make sure to use these insights to constantly update and improve our current vehicle along with our partners. Having said that we like to pool in the knowledge of like-minded partners in this field and therefore work along with a select group of partners. We think this is too big a change for any one organization to do alone and therefore we like to work with our partners who have a rich history in manufacturing and innovation in India.
Q.What’s your expansion plans in future?
VA-YU has grown 8 folds over the last 14 months inspite of the two waves of lockdowns. Having started during adverse market conditions, we have built the resilience and the persistence of a marathon runner. We are targeting 10,000 vehicles on the roads within the next 1 year. We are looking to cater to primarily Delhi NCR market for the next a few months as the demand for our service is very strong. Early next year we will be expanding our services into a few other select markets. We are in our Pre series A currently and are seeing a very strong investors interest for our business model. We will close round within the next 1-2 months and will move on from there.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Assembly Elections Live Updates here.
Comments
0 comment