From Renting To Now Retail: With Launch Of ‘Wynn’, Yulu Wants Its Users To Own Ebikes

People in the most prominent localities of Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai are quite well-acquainted with the small, blue-coloured signature rental electric bikes (ebikes) provided by Yulu. Used by daily commuters initially, Yulu ebikes gradually found their way into the lives of last-mile delivery executives. And ever since, Yulu’s presence has kept on growing.

But have you ever wondered if you could own one such Yulu ebike? If yes, your wish is now about to come true. 

After being a pure-play mobility-as-a-service provider for almost six years, the electric mobility startup recently launched a new low-speed ebike model, Yulu Wynn, to provide its customers with the experience of owning its bikes.

Launched on April 28, Yulu Wynn is the latest model launched by the startup after the launch of Miracle GR and DeX GR in February this year.

Priced at INR 55,555 Yulu Wynn offers a top speed of 25 km per hour. However, this price doesn’t include the battery. Yulu will not sell its battery and core software stack with the bike, and customers will have to pay separately for them via subscription.

Speaking to Inc42, Yulu CEO and cofounder Amit Gupta said Yulu will provide buyers of Yulu Wynn with a smart mobility pack, which will include its battery-as-a-service and software stack, at a subscription in the range of INR 500 to INR 899 per month.

With this subscription, Yulu Wynn customers can access the company’s ‘Yuma Energy’ battery swapping stations and Yulu’s connected tech platform, which would make this ownership even more ‘delightful’, Gupta said.

What Prompted The Foray In The Crowded Market? 

The adoption of EVs in India is being led by two-wheeler vehicles and the market is flooded with low-speed electric scooters from manufacturers like Hero Electric, Ampere, Okinawa, and Gemopai, among others. The low-speed escooters don’t need to be registered and this is one of the main reasons driving their adoption.

Responding to a question about entering this crowded market with the launch of Yulu Wynn, Gupta said, “We are betting on far-superior scooters, delightful experience that comes with our technology, and more importantly, on taking away the nuisance of customers being stuck with old battery technology and paying upfront for those, not knowing what their life cycle is going to be like.”

According to Gupta, Yulu received thousands of inquiries from its users since its inception asking if they could own Yulu bikes. While this didn’t fit in with its renting model, Gupta said Yulu’s team found that the startup could fulfill this demand and just had to find the right way to package its ebikes.

“Since we are not selling the batteries, we are providing the customers with our battery swapping network. So, you are actually never running out of battery charge, and, as we know, range anxiety is one of the major threats to EV adoption,” said Gupta.

Yulu Wynn, like the startup’s earlier vehicle models for rental service, is manufactured by Bajaj Auto and comes with a maximum payload of 100 kg. 

“Over the last five years, we have built all the technical technological capabilities in-house, which is not the core DNA of the typical OEMs. Once the delivery is initiated for Yulu Wynn, a customer can see a new tab on the Yulu app, which will show the delivery status. Next, once the vehicle is delivered, the customers will be given access to the entire connected features developed by the company after verifying the vehicle delivery through a QR code,” explained Gupta.

Yulu Wynn provides keyless access to its owners through the Yulu mobile app.

However, the going will definitely not be easy for Yulu as it would also have to compete with the likes of Ola Electric, Ather Energy, TVS Motor, and more, who are currently leading the high-speed escooter market in India. Some of these leading players also provide their users with a well-connected charging network and connected software stack.

It must be noted that despite the hiccups pertaining to the FAME-II scheme, two-wheeler EV registrations crossed the 1 lakh mark for the first time in May. 

Yulu’s Plans To Reach Customers

According to Gupta, Yulu is also planning to provide a smart charger with Yulu Wynn for home charging. However, it would be an optional buy. Customers buying the smart chargers would also get a discount on monthly subscription charges as they would then be paying the charging bill, which Yuma swapping stations would have had to pay, themselves.

The startup is promoting its new product by setting up a few pop-up experience centres in cities where it’s already present.

Yulu has already started taking orders for Wynn and plans to start full-fledged deliveries by next week. Gupta said that Wynn has already started seeing a lot of interest from women and teenagers.

Yulu, cofounded by Amit Gupta, RK Misra, Naveen Dachuri and Hemant Gupta in 2017, offers electric-two wheeler mobility solutions in Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, and Mumbai. The startup now plans to expand to cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai.

In September last year, Yulu raised $82 Mn (INR 653 Cr) in its Series B round of funding, which was led by the US-based Magna International and saw participation from Bajaj Auto.

In FY22, Yulu’s net loss narrowed to INR 55.5 Cr in FY22 from INR 61.1 Cr in the prior fiscal year, while operating revenue more than doubled to INR 29 Cr. In September 2022, Gupta told Inc42 that the startup’s ARR stood at about $6 Mn.

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