The Servicing GAP in the EV Industry and a possible Solution from eOxigen Automotive

Author: Rajesh Mishra

India is undergoing a massive Electrical Vehicle Boom driven by three major drivers, namely,

1. A cause for environmental concern. Tail pipe emission is zero in electrical vehicles.
2. High price of fuel oil, i.e., petrol at INR 108/- per litre is causing serious burn in the pockets of Indian middle class, and
3. Availability of electrical vehicle technology in pricing comparable to petrol vehicles especially in 2-wheeler (2W) segment especially with advancement in the battery technologies of solid-state lithium chemistry which allows dense energy storage for longer times and such batteries are reusable, as well as access to finance to buy these vehicles.

Whilst the time is quite right for entire Indian subcontinent to adopt the electrical vehicle (2W) as their new mode of transport and commuting both in passenger and goods segment, two major concerns which have risen are-

1. Lack of publicly available charging infrastructure, though electricity is available aplenty in every nook and corner of India and even remote villages have access to this commodity, there is genuine lack of open access to charge his/her vehicle battery if a person is visiting an alternate area (which is neither home nor office). The Indian start-ups have already identified this as a major pain area as Indians are used to a plethora of petrol pumps across the country with easy access to this commodity, same isn’t true for Electrical Public charging points.
2. Lack of proper servicing infrastructure of these largely Chinese imported vehicles being dumped in the India market. One of the key reasons of the sudden boom in the Indian electric vehicle business is the availability of cheap Chinese imported vehicles, which Indian manufacturers haven’t been able to cope up with or haven’t seriously though to give this segment a try.

Indian has a history of more than 60 years in the ICE vehicles’ business of branded scooters and bikes, and houses one of the world’s largest bike companies, i.e., Hero Moto Corporation, we also had a natural growth of the road-side mechanic, a home grown self-skilled labor who provides for cheap and reasonably priced servicing solution for the petrol scooter or bike being run by the average Indian middle-class.

If you have been an owner of a petrol bike or scooter you would have noticed that OEM caters to only the first year in warranty servicing ideally, post which there is a high chance that we do our servicing from the road-side mechanic. This is a huge work force and eager to learn more for a business of automobiles especially the 2W and 3W segment.

The Problem:

Whilst the cost of running a Chinese imported electrical vehicle is quite low (compared to ICE/ Petrol Vehicles), there is virtually no or very limited organized service and support from the dealer and distributor network of these electrical vehicles. For any locality, if you go around the place you may get a few road-side mechanics who are servicing and repairing the petrol and fuel-based vehicles, but they have largely been untouched by the electrical vehicle revolution, happening in India at present.

A possible solution:

eOxigen Automotive Pvt Ltd, a nascent start up (registered in 2019 and started by Sujoy Chourasia and Kunal Zutshi) in the field of EV service repair maintenance, manufacturing, assembling along with the EV technology aggregation has had a robust experience in the past two years servicing and repairing electrical vehicles (especially for Flipkart, Amazon, and Big basket last mile delivery fleet owners) and have found a sweet spot to develop and hone their skills.

They have identified this as a major problem zone with both bulk and retail customers with very few or nil servicing operators in this field along with a very big segment of road-side mechanics who are eager to learn this new field and willing to engage with eOxigen Automotive Pvt Ltd. In its mission to train 10,000 plus road-side mechanics in a period of 18 months, this huge fleet of mechanics will help, and assist provide a solution to the Indian consumer in terms of easy repair servicing as well as availability of spares and parts of EVs, servicing of motors and controllers (especially the Hub Motor), along with the deep dive in putting the infrastructure for lithium battery management and servicing in field closest to the customer point.

One of the training sessions by eOxigen Automotive in Guindy, Chennai

In its endeavor to spread this training, eOxigen Automotive Pvt Ltd has already trained more than 500 students and mechanics across the length and breadth of our country and already has points of presence in Delhi/ NCR (including Gurugram and Noida), Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Chennai, Surat, and Bharuch, with a great response from the mechanics of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

eOxigen Automotive after its huge initial success is putting in efforts to broad base this engagement and is trying to approach likeminded individuals and corporate along with small traders and EV players to  get associated with the company in its efforts in a commercially viable manner and it is also putting in efforts to get itself funded via the PE/VC route so as the company can achieve its larger role of reaching out to India’s nook and corners with this new technology and assure customers of longevity of their electrical vehicles.

To know more about the eOxigen Innovative model of engagement please visit www.eoxigen.com or check out its youtube channel or you can write to sales@eoxigen.com/ sujoy@eoxigen.com / kunal@eoxigen.com.

About the Author:

• Over 22 years of experience in selling & providing technology solutions, services enabling and improving multiple business processes across BFSI, Telecom, Manufacturing and other industries.
• P&L ownership of a business unit with the responsibility of building and leading the team of sales professionals for large organizations across India and ASEAN region.
• Working closely with the cross-functional teams in the organization to ensure smooth project implementation with minimum escalation of issues.
• Optimize the performance by managing & supporting Large Partners and System Integrators translating the strategic plans and ensuring proper implementation.
• Build relationships with CXO’s to provide thought leadership and gain mindshare as well as revenue share in those relationships. Delivered outstanding revenue and margin results by leveraging the domain knowledge as well as consultative sales
• Experience in working with Global teams for Pre-Sales and support to ensure maximum customer satisfaction.