Interview with Parveen Kharb
CEO and Co Founder, Twenty Two Motors
Date:
26 Jan 2018
| Author: P.Tharyan
What prompted you to enter the e-vehicle space? What kind of investment
has gone into your business?
India has a thriving
automotive industry serving the local and global markets. India’s move towards
an electric vehicles future has been backed up by a supportive tax structure
and policies, and is potentially large local market. EVs in India at distinct levels
are anticipated to transform into a gripping opportunity galore in future.
Having worked in some of the
leading global automobile brands like BMW, Toyota and Harley-Davidson, the
chief brains behind Twenty Two Motors had a vision to revolutionise the way
urban youth daily commute. With the quality of air in the urban areas
determining at an alarming rate, a clean yet smart transport was much needed,
and Twenty Two Motors answered to the distress call hence started working on a
vehicle that convenient, efficient and smart.
We have raised around 1.6
Million USD till date and planning to raise another 15 million USD in coming
year
You have already unveiled a prototype of your e-scooter in November
2017, what’s been the response, if any? What are your plans for the Auto Expo
2018 in case you are participating? (Stall No. Hall no.)
The response of prototype
FLOW has been overwhelming . We will be
launching our first smart scooter FLOW at the Auto Expo 2018. Our Stall number
is E27 and Hall number 4.
There seem to be a sudden rush of new startups in the electric
two-wheeler space, offering long range and fast vehicles. How do you hope to
compete with these players?
Today the market is still at a
very emerging stage. I feel that we are entering at a right time where the
market is maturing in the EV space. We are introducing unique product in market
with matchless fearless features such as onboard navigations, connected scooter
with mobile app integration, Rider driving pattern analysis, Remote vehicle
diagnosis so on and so forth
Data and connectivity will
rule the auto world in the time to come. Need to put more meat in this such as
penetration of EV market, players doing well, consumers looking for cleaner
fuel etc.
How far are you from launch? There is also a need for dealers and sales
points. Are you ready with these?
As mentioned earlier we will
be launching FLOW at Auto Expo 2018. We will be coming up with experiential centres
for now as we believe that there is huge need for creating awareness for smart
EV’s in India.
What about the technology and the R&D behind developing these
electric two-wheelers, do you have an in-house team in place?
FLOW is built on years of
exhaustive Research and Development. The vehicle ushers in a host of never
before features for the smart modern urban commuter, driven by technology
poised at the cutting edge.
The Electric Vehicle is
connected to cloud servers on the go. The EV has the unique features Sense Deep
Logic, the system has been dotted with state of the art sensors and smart
features. Real time connectivity to cloud ensures that we can keep an eye on
system performance. Integrated app provides a glimpse into system even when you
are thousands of miles away. System has taken full advantage of various sensors
and real time connectivity which have been integrated with the EV. Servers
analyse data through complex data analytic algorithms and suggest any upcoming
service requirement. Smart App, our user centric mobile application provides
you one touch solution to control every aspect of the vehicle. You can track
your vehicle remotely and analyse your driving pattern. Vehicle health is now
Omnipresent to the user. GeoFencing, what more, you can now define your own
territory. Vehicle will automatically alert you once it’s outside your defined
geographical boundaries.
We have passionate dedicated
bunch of in-house designers. Elegance and simplicity are elements which our
designers have achieved while ensuring maximum performance. Performance and
safety have been ensured to give our customers a thrilling drive. We have also
worked with industry leading Italian design and Engineering firm on
consultation basis to give the best class leading design.
What options are you going to provide your customer for charging?
FLOW is equipped with a DC
motor, which is powered by a Lithium Ion Battery, which can be charged within a
short span of 5 hours and can travel through a distance of more than 80kms with
an unmatched speed of 60 kmph, with a single charging session.
We will be coming up with Dash
charging stations at Metro stations and petrol pumps where our customers will
be able to charge 80% of the battery in 20 minutes.
Can you throw some light on your manufacturing/assembly facility and
the capacities you are going to have? What about sales targets? Would you also
be introducing more electric models as you go by? Any plans to get into
electric motorcycles?
We will be manufacturing our
smart electric vehicle at our Facility with capacity of 300 scooters per day.
The state of the art facility is more than 3.5 lakh Sq Ft in area located in
Bhiwadi, Haryana. To start with, we plan to sell around 1 lakh units in first
24 months of the launch. We will be launching only one smart scooter this year,
going ahead we would be coming out with a smart three wheeler.
