Week 40 (Sep 27 - Oct 3)
In this week's recap - Tesla announces 2021 India entry, Etrio raises $3M to launch e3W, Bounce & Simple Energy announce a partnership, India extends EV localization deadline & MMT + BluSmart tie up.
Tesla CEO Musk suggests India entry in 2021. “Next year for sure,” Musk said on Twitter in reply to a post with a photograph of a T-shirt with the message: “India wants Tesla”. In some great news to all the Tesla fanboys in India, Elon Musk indicated Tesla will make its foray here in 2021. In March 2019, Musk had said that Tesla would “definitely” arrive in India by 2020. Then again in July 2020, he had hinted at the company's foray into India in a year However, responding to a question in August 2019 on when Tesla will enter India, Elon Musk said in a tweet: "I'm told import duties are extremely high (up to 100%), even for electric cars. This would make our cars unaffordable." By the looks of things, Tesla will be importing its cars to India just like Kona or MG ZS EV.
Etrio raises $3 Million to launch new EVs in India. Hyderabad based EV startup has raised $3 million in Series A round from high net worth individual investors based out of Singapore. The company plans to use fresh funds to fuel its go-to-market strategy, set up sales and service networks across select cities, and hire key personnel over the next six-nine months to ensure a rollout of its three-wheeler (Touro) and e-bikes (Ashva and iSwitch). Last month, the startup had launched eLCV, its retrofitted Tata ACE, and had claimed an order book of 1200+ vehicles from e-commerce companies.
Bounce and Simple Energy in talks to develop new long-range EV for India. Founded in 2019, SimpleEnergy is a Bangalore based startup that has developed an electric scooter - Mark 2 with a battery capacity of 4.8 KWh and a range of up to 260 km. The company is currently raising funds for commercializing its product and getting the necessary regulatory approvals in preparation for its 2021 launch. Bounce, one of India’s leading dockless scooters company has committed to convert its ICE fleet to Electric by 2023. Their partnership signals their intent to work together to develop a new scooter that can be deployed on the Bounce platform soon.
India extends the deadline for EV components localization. The Department of Heavy Industries (DHI) has extended the deadline for the localization of several components under its phased manufacturing program (PMP) for electric vehicles (EV) from 1 October 2020 to 1 April 2021. In 2019, DHI had come out with a list of 20 parts along with deadlines for graded duty structures to encourage indigenous manufacturing of those components. Amongst the components for which the Centre has extended the deadline for mandated local procurement are traction motors, motor controllers, vehicle control units, on-board chargers, converters, and instrument panels. The move is expected to support the fledgling EV industry as the localization plans of several companies were derailed due to disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic.
MakeMyTrip ties up with BluSmart for airport transfers. MakeMyTrip has announced its partnership with BluSmart to launch Electric Vehicles (EV) for airport transfers. Customers in Delhi NCR can opt for eco-healthy travel options while booking through the MakeMyTrip App. Moreover, as the safety of riders and driver-partners continues to remain of utmost importance, MakeMyTrip is also ensuring that these EV vehicles meet the MySafety standards established in compliance with the guidelines of WHO and local health authorities.
Other interesting reads
Volkswagen and Uber launch pilot project with e-Golf EVs in Berlin
Tesla’s nemesis in China is a tiny $5,000 electric car from GM
Recovery declines in August, but EVs continue to gain traction
Spotify CEO backs Northvolt, which is building a gigafactory in Sweden
China's SVOLT to supply cobalt-free EV batteries to Great Wall Motors