Electrical equipment maker, RR Global, is betting big on its first B2C initiative with its electric scooter branded BGauss. Produced at Chakan near Pune, the first two models to be launched have been christened A2 and B8.

“We understand the business of motor, controller, wire harness, battery and so on,” Hemant Kabra, Director of RR Global and Founder/MD of BGauss told Business Line in a recent interview. From his point of view, the key is to give the “right product at the right price and quality”.

Equally, Kabra maintained that he was not remotely deterred by the fact that RR Global has essentially been in the B2B business and is now taking a giant leap into the B2C space with BGauss. “We manage more than 6,000 distributors and dealers for our business and understand the complexities of supply chain, distribution management and service,” he said.

To that extent, RR Global believes it is a “B2C-driven company in terms of distribution management”. Additionally, he continued, it handles over 300 service centres and also offers services at home for a host of issues in the electrical space.

According to Kabra, this explained why over 150 expressions of interest have already been received for the e-scooter foray. “We have closed more than seven dealerships at prime locations…dealers and distributors have faith in us and know that we are sincere with our effort,” he said.

He added that the company also understood its customers very well given that it develops new products every quarter based on market feedback. The key is to have “decent control” over the product and this is where RR Global will leverage its expertise in motors and controllers along with service and distribution.

Kabra admitted that the BGauss initiative was a passion with him for which work had begun nearly two years ago. ”We have developed a high speed product after doing a lot of study,” he said.

Enough room in e-scooter segment

In his view, there was enough room for a new player to throw its hat into the electric scooter ring. The traditional two-wheeler arena, he said, was dominated by brands in the internal combustion engine space. “With electric vehicles, I see 10-12 players with a market share of three to eight per cent each,” he said.

It was, therefore, important to move early enough in this space before more and more players join the electric parade. “It becomes difficult when the market gets mature,” reasoned Kabra. Till then, it makes sense to fix the niggles based on customer feedback and then get ready for the bigger tug-of-war.

The BGauss Founder said it was equally important to plan well in advance for the electric space. “We have started design of two new products that will be launched in March and July 2021,” he added. The good part about electric mobility lies in offering “specialised products” for men and women as well as in functions like food delivery and the like.

“Our focus right now is scooters for the next couple of years and grow this space. Three-wheelers are not on the radar right now,” said Kabra. The electric scooter business clearly has prospects in the e-commerce space which is now especially buoyant during Covid-19 times with customers ordering goods from home.

For BGauss, the company has specialists in design, batteries, service and a host of other specific functions. “It is a focused team with with a blend of aggressive and experienced people,” said Kabra. The other benefit is access to the larger R&D team at RR Global.

Hyderabad is home to the first BGauss showroom followed by Bengaluru and Chennai. Panvel in Navi Mumbai and Pune are next in line along with another location in Gujarat. “The idea is to focus on seven States in the south and west which are scooter-dominated markets. We have identified 108 cities on the basis of population and the penetration of electric,” he said.

Plans are also underway at BGauss to export the e-scooters to markets like Africa and, perhaps, ASEAN, in the course of time. According to Kabra, RR Global already exports its products to 80 countries and this is in line with its policy of having a de-risk strategy and keep itself insulated from global volatilities.

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