Bigbasket Looks To Electrify Its Fleet With Ampere’s E-Scooters

Electric two-wheelers Ampere Vehicles, which is owned by Greaves Cotton, has partnered with online grocery delivery unicorn Bigbasket to electrify its fleet in six metro cities — Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi NCR.

P Sanjeev, COO at Ampere Vehicles, said that the company is also targeting electrifying other businesses as well. By infusing Ampere’s electric fleet, companies will be able to cut down their operation cost and will prove to be beneficial in gaining competitive advantage, Sanjeev added. He also assured that the Ampere’s e-scooters is suited for both personal and commercial use.

‘Electrification For 2020’

KB Nagaraju, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Bigbasket, said that the company was planning to expand its fleet of electric vehicles (EV) 2W by “10 times within a span of one year”. He also highlighted that BigBasket was one of the first companies in India to use EV for last-mile delivery. Bigbasket started its EV fleet in 2016 and considers further electrification as a critical aspect of its logistics plan for 2020.

Nagaraju added, “This partnership with Ampere is certainly in that direction of going green and the EV fleet makes a great business case for us in terms of lowered costs and stronger social capital built through our sustainable practice.”

Bigbasket was founded in 2011 by VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, VS Ramesh and Abhinay Choudhari. Since its launch, Bigbasket has managed to expand its catalogue to include household essentials and cosmetics, among other items of daily use.

The company currently operates in 26 Indian cities and claims to process over 1.40 lakh orders per day. The company also claims to have over one crore of users on board. In November 2019, Bigbasket announced that it is close to the breakeven point in 10 Tier 1 cities. These cities include Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi NCR, where Bigbasket is planning its electrification drive.

‘Grofers Notes EV Challenges’

Bigbasket’s rival Grofers has also electrified its delivery fleet since 2016. However, Grofers has also been very vocal about the challenges in the EV industry, especially when it comes to incorporating it into the delivery fleet.

In November 2019, Grofer’s director of operations, Vinay Kumar, said that the company has been managing its electrified delivery fleet for the last three years and in that process, it has seen multiple failures at various levels.

Kumar highlighted some of the challenges the company has been facing, which included the delivery executives’ resistance to drive EVs, lack of charging infrastructure, and the discovery of EV technology manufacturers.

‘Ampere Vehicles’ 40K Customers’

Founded in 2008 by Hemalatha Annamalai, Coimbatore-based Ampere Vehicle offers two-wheeler electric models such as Zeal, V-48 LA, Magnus 60, Reo LA and REO Li. Ampere Vehicles claims to have a customer base of 40K users. In October 2019, Ampere struck a deal with Amazon and became the first automobile brand in India to sell its e-scooters online.

Recently, the company also launched Reo Elite, which is powered by 48V-20Ah lead-acid battery and can cover 55-65 Km on a single charge. Ampere Vehicles claims that the riders do not need a license or registration due to the low speed of the scooter. The scooter can go up to 25 Kmph and costs around INR 45,099.

Recently, Ampere Vehicles’ rival Ather Energy revealed an upgraded version of its flagship e-scooter 450 model. The new model is called Ather 450X and will be launched across India by the end of this month.

Correction: January 10, 2019| 3:34 PM

• Some sections of this article have been edited post-publishing to improve the clarity of language.