Blu smart is a start-up based in Delhi. It has managed to raise $2.2 million in seed funding. The investment is received from a group of angel investors along with Jain International Trade Organisation Angel Network leading the round.
There are other investors too which include Hero Motocorp, Micromax, Mayfield Fund and Centrum and a few other individual investors in the industry. The raised funds are going to be used to expand the offerings and services beyond Delhi NCR.
Blu Smart was established in January by Anmol Jaggi and Punit K Goyal. The company has some new plans which also include subscription-based car rentals, shared electric vehicle charging infrastructure, ride sharing on both electric cars and bikes across the Delhi NCR region.
The start-up entered into a partnership with Mahindra Electric in June, to onboard 70 Mahindra eVerito premium sedans in its cab fleet. The company is now planning to add up to 500 Mahindra eVeritos by April 2020. Not just that but they are also planning to expand other densely populated cities such as Pune and Mumbai.
JITO Angel Network said;
“The start-up is working to build a holistic smart electric on-demand mobility platform covering the entire value chain of smart mobility, smart charging and smart parking.”
The EVs used by BLU has a range of 180 km and it takes about 1 hour 30 minutes to charge the battery till it reaches 80%. Deployed cars are using lithium-ion batteries of 18.55 kWh and can provide you a speed of 80 km per hour. The company also have plans to launch long-distance intercity all-electric rides.
Apart from that, the company will also enable cab rides, similar to Uber and Ola have done with UberPool and OlaShare. The cab fleet is owned by the company itself. A company driver confirmed that the company is going to hire drivers on the company payroll and thus, the number of rides taken and incentives will not affect the earning of the driver.
The company is also planning to introduce ride-hailing on two heelers EVs soon. According to the company they have the potential to save around 2.2 metric tons of CO1 emissions in the National Capital Region. The EVs used by the company is running on just 20% of the operational cost of a traditional petrol-fuelled car.
Other companies such as Ola Electric, Ather Energy, Yulu, etc. are gearing up to enter the EV revolution in the country.
