Former Tata Motors Ltd president Gajendra Chandel has invested an undisclosed sum of money in the Jaipur-based electric scooter startup BattRE Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd.
BattRE will use the funding for launching new models, increasing its production capacity as well as scaling up its distribution and service network, the company said in its statement.
Company founder Nishchal Chaudhary said Chandel’s experience in the automotive sector would provide the startup with the knowledge it needed to grow. “Under his mentorship, we are confident of achieving our vision of providing an affordable and aspirational e-scooter,” he said.
Separately, Chandel said the electric vehicle segment had tremendous potential because of government policy focus as well as the larger clean-technology ecosystem.
BattRE says it differentiates itself from its competitors because of its internet-of-things connected electric scooter, which uses cloud-based GPRS to connect with a mobile application to store vehicle-related data in the cloud. The vehicle’s owners will be able to use the app to locate nearby charging points as well as check on the scooter’s maintenance requirements.
The company says its scooters run on lithium ferro-phosphate batteries that last longer than traditional lead-acid batteries.
The investment in BattRE comes a few weeks after dockless scooter-sharing platform Bounce raised around Rs 505 crore (around $72 million) in its Series C round of funding, which was led by existing venture capital investors Accel and Sequoia. Other investors included existing investor Chiratae Ventures, New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge India, B Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Maverick Ventures and Omidyar Network.
Demand for electric vehicles in India is likely to rise after the government on Friday proposed to provide income-tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles.
