With growing public interest in electric vehicles, a Dutch start-up Three Wheels United (TWU) is betting big on the electric autorickshaw market. The company is offering loans to drivers to own electric autorickshaws, especially in south and western India.
“We are now looking to raise $1 million through equity and debt to disburse first the 500 loans for electric autorickshaws,” said Tandong Cedrick Neba, founder, TWU. The company, founded in 2016, has invested a total of $1.5 million in India till now.
So far, the company has disbursed loans in India to 2,200 drivers for owning four-stroke less polluting vehicles (non e-autorickshaws), in partnership with a nationalised bank. The company is tapping the potential by partnering with Mahindra. “We will launch 500 electric autorickshaws in November 2018 that will be available in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune,” said Neba.
TWU will enable drivers avail the loan and take care of the repayment.
Attractive EV market
The loans are collected on a daily or weekly basis using innovative technology to ensure low operational cost. The company has partnered with the Microsoft Research and has developed a fintech app on android (PRAYANA) applying behavioural science to make loan repayment smart, and intuitive.
The government has launched the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 that envisages sale of 6 million electric and hybrid vehicles in the country. This is giving impetus to the electric vehicle (EV) market in India, which is attracting investments in the recent times.