Two Wheelers Are a Key to Pure Electric Vehicle Adoption: Rohit Vadera

Company at a Glance 

• Company Name - PUR Energy Pvt Ltd (PURE EV)

• Incorporation Year - 2015

• Founders: Dr. Nishanth Dongari and Rohit Vadera 

• Current Products: Electric Scooters like ePluto 7g and eTrance NEO; Electric Motorcycles like eTryst 350 and ecoDryft

With the help of Central Government’s push on electric mobility, a number of start-ups in the electric two wheeler segment are coming up. Some of them are solely dependent on the benignity of the government while some of them are coming up with products that solve actual problems. Opportunity India Abhishek Kumar Singh, in search of electric mobility products which solve real world problems, interviewed Rohit Vadera, CEO, PURE EV to understand how brands are coming up and how solutions are made. The company has recently launched an electric motorcycle and this interview is in regards to the same.

Which is the best selling product of the company and how did it become the bestseller?

Our best selling product so far has been our first launch, ePluto 7G. PURE EPluto 7G is our premium electric scooter with retro looks that is designed to give the most comfortable ride experience that any scooter possibly can. With its multi-speed smart design, a rider is in total control of the ride experience whether it’s daily errands in traffic or long thrill rides. 

How many dealerships do you have? What is the process and prerequisite to open a PURE EV dealership?

Rohit - We at PURE EV are very particular about the unique sales and after sales service PURE customers experience so we have a very methodical process to on-board dealers that share our passion and are in sync with the company’s ethos. PURE is one of the top 10 EV2W OEMs in the country with leading market share in South India. Our goal for FY 23 and FY 24 is to further strengthen our presence down south and emulate similar success across other parts of the country as well.  Since the beginning, we have been following a dealer oriented model. We have over 130 dealers across pan India along with a couple in Nepal and Bhutan. We are aggressively expanding our dealer footprint across India and have further plans to expand into Middle Eastern and African markets as well.

We have seen numerous scooter makers in the budget segment that ecoDryft falls into. However, there are very few bike (conventionally styled motorcycles) makers in it.  Could you please shed some light on the reason behind that?

Motorcycles have been our long term ambition and we have been working towards a vehicle that caters to the cost conscious Indian consumer for the last 5 years. All of our learnings and technological developments over this period has helped us to come up with the all-new ecoDryft.

Commute motorcycles are the preferred daily driver for an average Indian consumer. This is very clear with the consistent sales numbers of these motorcycles. Almost, 50 percent of all two wheeler sales in India are commuter motorcycles while 40 percent of all auto sales in India are commuter motorcycles. 

We believe that if true EV adoption has to happen in India, then this segment is the key. We are an early mover into this space and we do expect many more OEMs to target this segment in the future.

How would this vehicle compete with rivals like Revolt RV 400?

Currently, we do not have any direct competition for ecoDryft. Revolt RV 400 is an electric motorcycle that targets the premium segment of the market. Revolt is a competition to our premium motorcycle that we launched last year, the eTryst 350. Even the new Tork’s Kratos is around the similar price point in the premium space.

Developing a powertrain that is suited for the rugged Indian conditions like the terrain and the temperature has been the biggest challenge that we faced during this development phase. Motorcycles have a bigger battery pack and a motor compared to the scooters, so the workload on the power train is more pronounced. So, the most optimum and efficient power train is critical and crucial when it comes to a Commute motorcycle as it needs to be reliable. We have tested ecoDryft extensively and rigorously across multiple conditions and are very happy with the results.

So, for now, ecoDryft does not have any direct competition in this segment and at this price point from an electric motorcycle perspective.

How long does it take to charge the vehicle?

ecoDryft has been designed and developed at PURE EV’s technical and manufacturing centre in Hyderabad. The drive-train has AIS 156 certified 3.0 KWH battery with smart BMS and bluetooth connectivity, powered by 3 KW Motor, CAN based Charger, Controller and Instrument Cluster enabling the platform for any future firmware upgrades. It takes 3 Hours to charge 20-80 per cent and 6 Hours to charge 0-100 per cent

Would it be an Eco friendly option as last mile delivery two wheeler?

Not only an eco-friendly option, but also a budget friendly one. PURE EV’s vehicles help increase the savings of our consumer households in addition to being environment friendly. We have recently released our Impact Report that was based on our consumer service records history. Which translated to a savings of 30 thousand per customer compared to the usage of a petrol two wheeler along with a 33 thousand tonnes reduction in CO2 emissions.

What are the future plans of PURE EV?

Thanks to our R&D and mission mode approach, we have more than 100 Intellectual Property Rights filings. This also led to us being the only two wheeler Electric Vehicle company in India that has both electric scooters and motorcycles in the product portfolio. Now we want to focus on expanding our footprint aggressively and also utilise all our efforts into brand building activities.