Yulu plans for long term rentals, adds 1 lakh electric vehicles by 2021

Yulu an EV micro-mobility service provider CEO Amit Gupta has announced that it is planning to add one lakh electric vehicles on the road by the end of 2021 and introduce its service in new cities as well. As the sales of the vehicles have gown down during this lockdown, Yulu plans to focus more on long-term rentals.

Yulu 

Last year the company had raised $8 million from Bajaj Auto Ltd and currently the company is planning to import components for its electric scooters before assembling them in India. It plans to build its own electric scooters in partnership with Bajaj Auto from next year.

Yulu is also planning to provide bikes for long-term rentals starting from seven days up to 60 days as most users now prefer their own vehicles over rented vehicles for commuting. Due to pandemic, the companies have been forced to go for long term rental model. Gupta said that this is temporary as he expects users use its bikes once the offices and IT parks open.

“If you look at India’s automobile market, historically it has had very low consumer ownership penetration. Out of every 1,000 people in this country, only 35 of them possess their own car. Hence we believe that demand for such long term plans will only exist for the next 3 to 4 months, which will level out once workplaces open-up,” Gupta said.

As the lockdown was imposed since March, 46% of consumers are purchasing the second-hand vehicles during and after the lockdown according to a survey. As the pandemic has reduced its budget to buy a new one and no availability to public transports made it necessary to have a personal vehicle.

Bajaj Auto & Yulu join hands to bring a micro-mobility revolution

The company plans to assign around 15-20% of its 8,000 strong EV fleet to the subscription product and users also have the option to get the vehicle delivered at their doorsteps.

Recently, it has raised a fresh round of Rs 30 crore in an equity funding round led by Silicon Valley-based VC firm Rocketship. This is the first investment ever made by Rocketship in an Indian micro-mobility company.

The Co-founder & CEO of the company, Amit said, “We stand to benefit from their global expertise in supporting technology-led businesses and look forward to working with them.” The new round investment will be used for building up the mobility platform, technology solutions, and enabling rapid expansion.

Till now the micro-mobility firm has raised more than $20 million in funding from several investors such as Bajaj Auto Ltd, Blume Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Wavemaker, and US-based Rocketship. At present, the Yulu has more than 18,000 eco-friendly vehicles which run on the roads of Bengaluru, New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Bhubaneswar.

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