The Challenges In The Adoption Of EVs May Come In Future But We Need To Find Solutions Today: Saurav Kumar, Founder & CEO, Euler Motors

Euler Motors is an Automotive and Energy start-up focussed on sustainable last-mile transport by accelerating the transition of the Indian transportation ecosystem from internal combustion engines to new-age electric vehicles. Founded in 2018, the company is focussed on bringing 3 and 4 wheelers light commercial electric vehicles for cargo and passengers. The company addresses industry barriers and focuses on increasing the adoption of light electric commercial vehicles by offering the entire electric mobility as a service. Saurav Kumar Founder and CEO of Euler Motors talks to BW Autoworld about EV and its scope in India.

Please tell us about Euler Motors and its focus areas in the automotive space

Euler Motors is an automotive and energy start-up focussed on sustainable last-mile transport by accelerating the transition of the Indian transportation ecosystem from internal combustion engines to new-age electric vehicles. We started the company in 2018 with a focus to bring 3 and 4 wheelers light commercial electric vehicles.

We are committed to bringing eco-friendly vehicle technology with superior intra-city mobility experience. For this, there are three core focus areas for Euler Motors- Solving ecosystem problems from the ground-up approach, automotive technology play, and speed-up the process to bring fully functional vehicles.

We realize that first, we need to create a robust ecosystem that will help to increase the adoption of EVs in the market. We built infrastructure, charging stations, service station and other components, before bringing our vehicles on the road.

We think EVs from hardware and software play. In the earlier 3 or 4-wheel vehicles, the focus was always on hardware factors like engine, suspension, and others coming together. In EVs, it is not just automotive but there is a whole technology aspect which needs a lot of attention in developing the vehicles. We have a motor control unit, vehicle control unit, battery management system, thermal management system, telematics to monitor all of that and send data back to check performance.

Another important focus area is the lifecycle of the product. We are a start-up and may not have the luxury of time. The challenges in the adoption of EVs may come in the future but we need to find the solutions today. Hence, speeding up the process from concept to fully functional vehicle was important for us. The perfect EV may be one or two years away, but can we break in into parts and live the journey for the time period.

What are the reasons for foraying into the EV segment?

We strongly believe that e-vehicles will be the disruptor in the automotive sector. Our cities are struggling with deteriorating air quality, posing serious health-related challenges and contributing to global warming. We need to fix this problem today. Going by the statistics, more than 25 Indian cities are within the 100 most polluted cities in the World. The cause of growing air pollution in cities is related to a variety of sources however transport sector makes a significant contribution. Switching to electric vehicles could save India $60 billion in fuel costs while cutting down 1 gigatonne of carbon emissions. This could help India be among the global leaders in technology and skill development. Euler is committed to providing eco-friendly vehicle technology with superior intra-city mobility experience.

What is the current scenario for Euler Motors, who all are using your vehicles and where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

Currently, more than 100 prototype Euler Motor’s cargo vehicles are on the roads of Delhi-NCR specifically. Some of the e-commerce players like Big Basket, EcomExpress, Udaan, Milk Basket are using our vehicles for their last-mile connectivity.

There is a lot of work going on in terms of building from 100 vehicles in a year to 100-200 in a week which is a steep cycle. As a start-up, we are cognizance of building at scale with the same quality and quality. In the next 5 years, we are planning to spread the wings to Tier 2 and 3 markets and expand our portfolio to intercity options. By the next financial year, we plan to bring 3-4 thousand of vehicles.

How much funding have you received and who are the investors?

Blume Ventures and Emergent Venture along with angel investor Andrew Lee invested $2 million dollars.

Please tell us about your battery pack.

Euler Motors makes each of the battery pack for its vehicles. Before working to bring the vehicles, we knew battery packs are critical for our vehicles. We couldn’t find any automotive grade, battery-pack manufacturers, 18 months back and hence we had to first build the battery pack. The R&D team at Euler Motors is focused on building automotive-grade lithium-ion battery pack that could deliver the range required for intra-city logistics in all-weather, temperatures and road conditions. The company currently makes Li-Ion battery pack of 5.76 KWh for its vehicles. We keep monitoring the battery pack from charging and state-of-health perspective.

Please tell us about the manpower working in the company. How large is your organization in terms of the number of employees?

There are around 200 people working with us with 40 in the core team. There is a requirement for more manpower from a traditional automobile prospective and logistics point of view. It will take time and we are confident that we will achieve our set goals.