[TusharK]

Gensol Mobility has launched a 100% smart electric cab fleet called BLU-SMART in Delhi-NCR to offer last-mile connectivity for inter and intra-city trips. The service will not have any surge pricing.



In the first phase, BLU-SMART cabs plans to have 70 vehicles running in Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon and Aerocity. The company aims to have 400 cars on the roads by the end of March 2019. It has partnered with Mahindra to ply eVerito electric cars on specific routes in Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Manesar, Sonepat among others.

Gensol Mobility claims to have invested more than Rs. 50 crore to acquire new electric cars and setup 65 charging station across Delhi-NCR with up to 20 charging points each.

Link to Team-BHP News

[V.Narayan]

A humble beginning. Every journey of a 1000 miles starts with the first step. Power to them. Given that we are a cost conscious country our electric car revolution is more likely to be led by indigenous answers like this one rather than expensive foreign CBU imports. - electric 2-wheelers, electric/plug-in 3-wheeler cabs and these 4-wheelers - hold the cynicism, in 10 years we along with China could be world leaders as a market for EVs.

For the benefit of readers: 33% of India's installed power generation today is from renewable energy sources. This amounts to a little over ~116 GW of which 45 GW is in large hydro and 34 GW in wind. Today its wind installed base is 4th largest after China, USA and Germany and based on current expansion projects in about 6 years time India is expected to exceed Germany in wind energy installed base.

[libranof1987]

Good idea. Plugging the gap of last mile connectivity in NCR where there's a really strong Metro/bus network will go a long way in keeping private cars of the road. Short intra-city trips will also remove the range constraint EVs may have.

Hope this works out well. I'll look to book when I'm there next.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

....our electric car revolution is more likely to be led by indigenous answers like this one rather than expensive foreign CBU imports...

I was sold on that idea when I took my first e-rickshaw in NCR to get to the nearest metro station a few years ago, and from what I could tell from speaking to some of the drivers, they were happy to have moved from their pedal-based contraptions too.

Small scaleable ideas, rather than large capex sinks are a better idea to gain traction gradually.

[tarik.arora]

A very good move. I think Verito is a big car when we talk about last mile connectivity. It might be too big for our crowded "galiyan".

An electric hatch can be a better option for last mile. Wish, moves like these prompt automakers to make EVs available sooner than expected.

[blackwasp]

A good initiative. I also like the fact that they are setting up charging stations as well so that their cabs have a place to recharge nearby at all times.

Thanks to my experience as running a car in Uber, I know that the major expense of the cabbie is fuel. Going electric will reduce this to literally peanuts and over time will be way cheaper than even CNG. Not to mention that electricity rates don't go up as much as fuel giving a better stability in pricing as well.

Staring out with specific routes is smart. This way they can gauge customer response as well as battery drain in cars over different conditions (traffic, day/night, summer/winter etc.) and give a better picture on the total range of the eVeritos.

I also hope other manufacturers come up with eCabs as there is a large market for cabs with 200-250 km range.

[ferrarirules]

Blu smart achieves a revenue run rate of INR 400 cr. The firm has added 5000 cabs and 3900 charging points spanning across 32 charging hubs. The company plans to achieve 10,000 cabs by the end of FY24.

The company recently raised USD 109 millions which includes an equity raise of USD 85 million. It also received EV asset leasing of Rs. 1200 crore backed by development financial institutions like IREDA, PFA and other.

Excerpt from article

EV ride-hailing and charging provider BluSmart on Tuesday said it has crossed annual revenue run rate (ARR) of INR 400 crore.
Operating in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru, BluSmart has achieved a milestone of 5,000 electric vehicles (EVs). It has also set up over 3,900 EV charging points across 32 charging hubs at key locations in two cities.
"The year has been a transformative year for us, accelerating our growth exponentially. Next year too, we aim to grow very rapidly. We've witnessed robust demand for our service, reaffirming the continued growth of electric mobility," said Anmol Singh Jaggi, Co-founder and CEO, BluSmart.

Source - ETAUTO - link

[barcalad]

I hadn't used Blusmart until a week back. Had no need to as my wheels were sufficient to haul me around. However, with an early morning flight and with enough experiences with unprofessional Ola/Uber drivers of NCR, it was time to try something new. Too many close shaves with sleepy and disoriented drivers. Phew!

I booked my Blusmart for 3 AM the night before. Around 2 AM, I got the driver details on my phone and by 2:15 AM, the driver was outside my main gate, presumably catching up on sleep. So far, I was impressed given that it was my first experience with Blusmart and using Ola/Uber at that hour would have led me to try booking and filtering drivers half an hour before my scheduled departure time from home.

Around 2:55, I got a call from the driver who cheerfully and politely announced that he was at my main gate. Boarded the cab (a Tata Xpres-T EV) to find it clean, scented and seat pre-adjusted. The driver quickly took the OTP and started the trip. Nice morning music was on (Rafi/Mukesh/Kishore) and I settled in for a stress free early morning cab ride to the airport.

Spoke too soon.

About 5 minutes in, the car abruptly shut down. The driver tried re-ignition multiple times and the car came to life at the 4th attempt. That brought the frown on my forehead. 15 minutes later, same issue. This time the car came to life on the 3rd attempt.

I had not said a word until then. The driver, of his own accord, called his supervisor at that hour and stated the vehicle issue and that a backup car be arranged for me. I reckon the supervisor was monitoring his live location throughout. The driver continued to drive and the car didn't stall any more. About a kilometre before the airport the driver quipped - "Luck was on our side today, Sir!". Reassuring words, I thought as I paused my prayers and eased my frown for having reached the airport on time.

No complaints or suggestions except that cars allotted for early morning duties need to be the best of the fleet. No one takes a commute at that hour unless they are time bound to board a flight or a train. The product folks at Blusmart need to incorporate that. I did mention this in my post-ride feedback but didn't receive any call back or follow up from Blusmart.

Apart from what I term a one-off incident (as my return ride home via Blusmart was uneventful), I think Blusmart is a boon for airport transfers in NCR. I hope they commence city rides and rentals in all areas of NCR - which is not present in my area yet.

Maintaining quality standards while expanding to cater to demand that's fatigued of the duopoly will be their biggest challenge.