Many Indian startups have begun dabbling in the electric vehicle (EV) space. While most of them follow the same route with their business, Akash Gupta-led Zypp Electric has gone out of the box and risked a fusion that very few have executed successfully.
Whether due to the government’s mandate, or the intention to reduce their carbon footprint, businesses all over are actively looking to make the shift to EVs. The logistics sector, which is notorious for carbon emissions, urgently needs to make this shift and Zypp Electric has taken note. It leases electric bikes complete with battery infrastructure and maintenance support to such companies so that they need not worry about investing large sums on buying EVs. Their platform helps to keep a check on these e-bikes and also operates them.
Zypp also smartly prevents theft of the e-bikes. Apart from the usual KYC of the driving partners, these e-bikes have been fully tech-enabled. There is no key and the bikes are geo-fenced to always track them. Their custom battery management system ensures that the batteries are utilised properly. “We have proper triggers baked onto the app, which tells the driver the right time to charge the bike,” explains Gupta, CEO and Co-founder, Zypp Electric.
But that’s not all. Zypp has also figured out how to fund the acquisition of these bikes for themselves. “All of these bikes are invested by HNIs who like to invest in these assets. It is like an alternate asset/investment earning plan similar to how you invest in an FD or a mutual fund or real estate.” Zypp offers 20% pre-tax return to these investors for a 3-year plan, after which it offers to buy them back, essentially turning itself into an EV fintech firm!
In terms of scaling up, Zypp’s ambitions are simple. Expansion. Be it expanding the number of bikes they currently deploy (which is pegged to reach 15,000 within 12-18 months), or increasing the number of clean deliveries happening in the country, or expanding their operations from Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad to Bengaluru and Mumbai, Gupta aims to do it all.
This is not easy though; the biggest hurdle in Zypp’s plans is the low number of bikes being supplied at present. “The EV ecosystem and OEMs are still in the nascent stage, so none of the OEMs are able to deliver 1000-2000 bikes a month today, even though we are ready to buy those many bikes every month.”
Additionally, Gupta wants more robust bikes to be made that are suitable for the Indian terrain. Zypp’s outlook is positive, and it believes that with the right nudge, it can propel the country into meeting the clean energy goals it has set.
