The eBike concept is very strong and thoughtful and shall easily reach out to people across ages, cultures and regions.
Founded by Irfan Khan in 2017, eBike is said to be India’s first ever electric bike/taxi rental/delivery platform that provides an economical and environmental friendly travelling option. It is a fresh concept that addresses the major concern of air pollution in India due to the increasing number of vehicles.
Revenue is generated through rental services for tourists and customers, taxi rides through mobile apps and also through tie-ups with logistic delivery providers. Already present in Delhi, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Jaipur, eBike will soon launch its operations in Agra and Dehradun. The company aims to bring on road a fleet of 200,000 bikes in about 100 cities across the country.
Typically, an eBike runs for around 200 km after an electronic charge for about 2 hours and makes the daily commute zippy with a speed of 75 km/hr. Interestingly, this startup is also promoting eco-friendly tourism in India. “Our aim is to expand our operations pan-India,” says Irfan Khan, founder, eBike. “The endeavour is to enable people to adopt an eco-friendly means of transportation and also make travel cheaper and efficient for them. Our eBikes use lithium ion (Li-on) batteries which is completely biodegradable and helps in decreasing the accumulation of hazardous electronic waste. By introducing these scooters, our primary motive is to reduce pollution by atleast 2% this year which is emitted by petrol-based two-wheelers.”
eBike has tied up wth online food delvery chain Swiggy and is in talks with Uber Eats and Zomato to give its vehicles on rental. The cost of running an eBike is as low as 20 paise/km for an average speed of 55km/hr and thus eBike will be offering rentals starting at Rs 20 for 30 minutes.
Khan says, “The idea of eBike came when we started an NGO named Swachh Dalhousie in 2014 to clean the city as there is so much of trash all over the place; it is a tourist place and it is really crowded in summers. Seeing the success of this project, we decided to do something similar pan-India. We finetuned the eBike prototype last year and started our operations.”
eBike has a strong customer base in Amritsar due to the presence of a large number of tourists. The initial round of funding for the startup came from friends and family. It is in talks with a couple of investors for further funding.
“For electric vehicles, the major issue faced by the public is the scarcity of charging stations and Delhi government has taken a step to rectify this. This has helped us also to expand our fleet and offer better mobility. We would like the central government to take a similar step,” he adds.
The scooters are powered with a 60V/26AH Li-on battery which is detachable and can be charged anywhere. A customer can either book an eBike by the company’s mobile app or by contacting the customer care number: 7300073730.
Article Credit: Financial Express