THE DELHI BASED STARTUP IS MAKING IT EASIER AND CHEAPER FOR E-RICKSHAW DRIVERS TO EARN A LIVELIHOOD

The Delhi based startup is making it easier and cheaper for e-rickshaw drivers to earn a livelihood. Nowadays digitalization is the key to everyone's livelihood. E-Rickshaw startup is making life 'Green' for drivers & customers. Oye! rickshaw is an e-rickshaw aggregation app, which attempts to solve the problem of last-mile issues in a budget-friendly manner. There were many challenges faced on the road like building a good team, winning the trust of drivers. E- vehicles lower emissions by providing the public with last-mile connectivity and delivery solutions. 
The startup provides a robust battery technology to sustain the committed km and battery life cycles. Here there are two options available to the driver that if a battery is fixed, all the operating costs are borne by the owner of a rickshaw while if they use a vehicle where the batteries can be swapped, the ownership cost drops significantly, they only have to pay the charges for swapping the battery for every swap done. The startup is competing with Sun Mobility and Magenta Power.

The market is dominated by two and three-wheelers mostly. Nationwide adoption of electric vehicles is mainly hindered by the cost factor. 
According to the study of a strategy consulting firm, the total cost of ownership for running petrol cars is far lower than running an electric car for under 50km a day. This is because of the high share of battery costs in the overall vehicle cost. This business requires significant capital, it also has challenges to scale across the country and win users at the same time. The future is going to be electric because it drops the cost of the vehicle. Now many countries are moving towards all-electric transport infrastructure, with India having an electric vehicle (EV) policy as well. 

This will create a roadblock for the next wave of growth, both B2B and B2C startups. E-charge up works on bringing five elements together for the end-user validated battery technology, IT infrastructure, dealer partner, financier, and revenue enabling. Startup batteries are lightweight and it buys the batteries from a startup called green fuel. The USP of E-charge is to make a charging station available within a two-km radius. The startup has seen growth at a fast pace, however, it had a halt during the COVID 19 outbreak during which numbers fell and now it's steadily rising. It closely measures Average Revenue Per Driver (ARPD) and the Average Revenue Per Swap (ARPS), while continuously reducing the asset ratio. It aims towards expanding its scale, building a network of stations placed at the right location, operating on a structured finance, IT, and IoT for seamless transactions and service.

In a report it was stated for transforming India's Mobility it speaks about how we need a convenient mode of transport that is clean and does not create congestion on the streets. This platform is helping drivers to earn more and better. It was realized that other platforms couldn't break into the market as the entire driver and rider experience was different. For example, drivers of e-rickshaw do not go beyond a 5-km radius and they are usually around metros, malls, and other hubs. 

The rickshaw has a virtual stack and has a single latitude- longitude structure, which predetermines where the driver-partner will wait for the customer. This platform follows an asset-light model. The future is going to be electric as it drops the cost of vehicles. However, I believe that this innovation will bring the desired change and help make travel convenient with amazing experiences.