Micromax co-founder's new startup Revolt to take electric motorcycles to the masses
The RV300, which is the company's entry-level offering, will be available at a monthly charge of Rs 2,999, while the RV400 will come with two plans – Rs 3,499 per month and Rs 3,999 per month.
Nehal Chaliawala
Ketan Thakkar
Updated: August 28, 2019, 16:41 IST
The fully-electric motorcycles come with features like mobile app connectivity and removable batteries.
Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma's new electric two-wheeler startup Revolt Intellicorp on Wednesday launched two electric motorcycles with what the company calls the first plan in India that offers motorcycle-as-a-service, a plan that addresses the challenge of high cost that is usually associated with electric vehicles which have performance comparable to that of conventional vehicles.
The fully-electric motorcycles come with features like mobile app connectivity and removable batteries. The nearly identical motorcycles differ in power output, the RV400 is equipped with a 3kW motor, while RV300 gets a 1.5kW hub-mounted motor. They will be first available in Delhi and will soon be made available in Pune.
Does Rahul Sharma of Micromax have the recipe to crack electric 2W market?
Revolt unveils AI enable motorcycle - RV 400
In conversation with Nehal Chaliawala and Ketan Thakkar, Sharma explains the business model of his new company and how his company plans to disrupt the automotive space.
Edited excerpts:
How does your business model work?
You might have heard of software as a service (SAS), where you pay a small amount on a monthly basis to use it. Ours is an MAAS model, which is Motorcycle-As-A-Service.
There is no upfront price to the product. You pay me a small amount on a monthly basis. There is no downpayment, there is no maintenance cost, no insurance cost. Everything is included. We call this model MRP - My Revolt Plan.
EV is a new industry. The product has to be new and even the way we sell it has to be new.
Will the motorcycle be available only on the MAAS model or can a willing customer also buy it by paying an upfront amount?
This is the only model we are going to follow. I am not asking for a commitment of a lakh rupees. I am saying, you just give me a very small amount, keep paying me for three years, and the bike is yours. The bike belongs to you from day-1. It is not leased, it is not a rental.
Every student, in fact, everybody in this country will be able to afford this bike.
What about a scenario where a customer is not able to pay the monthly amount?
Since this is a smart bike, it will stop working if you don't pay and the moment you pay, it will again start working. This is very similar to Tata Sky. When your subscription gets over, it stops working and then the moment you recharge it, it will immediately start working. Since this is a smart vehicle, we can control the vehicle, which is not possible with conventional vehicles.
We will repossess the vehicle if the payment is not made for three months. Similar to when one buys a car and doesn't pay EMI. There will be a window of three months as per the government's guidelines.
What's your distribution plan like?
We are launching first in Delhi and Pune. In Delhi, four experience centres are already up and running. People can go and experience the bike there.
We will follow an online plus offline model. You can book the bikes online at Revolt.com and on Amazon.
We are going to have multiple service networks.
What's the pan-India plan like?
After Delhi and Pune, we will go to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, NCR, Ahmedabad. There are multiple markets that we have already planned. In two to three years we will cover 60%-70% of the Indian market.
So, you have addressed the problem of cost of acquisition associated with EVs. How do you address the range anxiety and the problem of charging infrastructure, or the lack thereof?
There are four ways in which you can charge your Revolt bike. First of all with a normal wall socket at your home. Secondly, the battery is portable, so if you live in an apartment, you can take out the battery and charge it at home overnight.
Third, we have a number of locations in the cities we are launching. You can go and take a charged battery from a shopkeeper at a location near you.
Finally, if you require battery urgently, you can go on the Revolt app and order a battery and a charged battery will be delivered at your home.
What is the range per charge that you are offering?
There are three modes - in the Economy mode it gives around 150kms of range. In the City mode, it will give 120kms of range and in the Sports mode, it will give you 80km to 90km depending on how you ride.
How many motorcycles are you planning to make?
As of now, our annual capacity is 120,000 bikes, which is as good as the size of the total EV industry in the country (In all, 120,000 electric two-wheelers were sold in India during FY19).
If the response is massive, we might have to expand pretty quickly, which is a good problem to have.
How soon do you expect to completely utilise this capacity?
Right now, we have already received some 75,000 plus registrations from people who are looking for a Revolt bike, which is a massive number. I think we should run out of this capacity within the first year of operations.
What was the motivation behind entering this space?
Today I want to buy an electric car for myself but there is no good electric car in the market apart from Hyundai Kona. Same story for electric motorcycles, there's no good product in the market that I can buy.
I think it was more of a question of manufacturers making the right product than people accepting EVs. If you make the right product, there are plenty of people who will come and buy an EV.
This is a window of opportunity to disrupt this industry. There has been no disruption in the Indian auto industry in the last 30 years.
The vehicle has been sourced from outside or is it your own R&D?
Everything on Revolt RV400 is all designed in-house. The only thing we have outsourced is the frame. Normally, all companies outsource that. The battery, battery-pack, ECU, controller, everything is designed in-house.
Do you have plans of entering the electric scooter market?
Certainly, yes. As of now, our focus is on motorcycles, but we will come up with scooters also later.
How much have you invested in this project so far and how much do you plan to invest in the mid-term?
As of now we have invested Rs 400-500 crore. As and when more requirement comes, we will raise more funds.
How much is the localised content on your motorcycles?
Right now, the localisation is around 60%-70%. And balance whatever is there we are going to localise by December. So, by 1 January next year, everything will be localised in India.
For the batteries, the cells come from an overseas partner and then the batteries are packed here itself.
Have you received subsidy under the FAME-II scheme?
We have received the subsidy, yes.
RV 400 launch
revolt intellicorp
revolt rv400
electric motorcycle
Most Read in Two Wheelers
Production on Gujarat plant's third line may start in 2-3 years: HMSI
Hero MotoCorp expands presence in Central America; appoints new distributor partners
eBikeGo ties up with SKS CleanTech for installation of solar-powered batteries
Simple Energy to raise up to INR 75cr in series-A funding; scooter launch in May
Chhattisgarh bans sale of Hero MotoCorp & Honda Two-wheelers in two districts
HMSI rolls out VRS even as its 'sales recover'
Electric two-wheeler domestic sales expected to decline 15-17% in FY21: Icra
Bajaj Auto becomes first two-wheeler company to cross INR 1 lakh crore market cap
TIFAC offers automation software worth Rs 18 crore to MSMEs
Exit without serving notice period to attract 18% GST
Pawan Goenka on lessons from Covid and vision 2021
Include natural gas under GST to push for gas-based economy: Industry