BluWheelz Mobility Services Private Limited (or simply BluWheelz), which is looking to spend $15 million to induct 10,000 electric vehicles (EVs) into its fleet for offering last-mile delivery services in the next year, is aiming to be a comprehensive EV fleet-as-a-service (EFaS) provider. The New Delhi-based firm is now working on a platform that will get one lakh electric two- and three-wheelers registered by 2028 once critical mass is achieved.
“We will initially adopt an asset-heavy model wherein we will run our own fleet of 10,000 vehicles earmarked for last-mile delivery services for e-commerce, e-grocery, FMCG, logistics, and D2C (direct-to-consumer) companies. We will also rope in 11,000 people, mostly as delivery partners,” BluWheelz Founder Chanpreet Sethi tells Moneycontrol, adding, “Going forward, we will probably become an aggregator platform itself wherein we will have as many as one lakh owner operators (of E2/3/4-wheelers) registering with us. We will resolve the issues of high capital costs, nascent infra, and lack of trained manpower through a tech-enabled app.”
In the process, BluWheelz aims to tap the gig economy workforce, which is expected to expand from 77.1 lakh in 20-21-to 2.35 crore (23.5 million) by 2029-30 (as per Niti Aayog).
As per the same government-led think tank, Gig workers – those engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement – can be broadly classified into the platform and non-platform-based workers.
When asked to shed some further light on allying with the gig workforce, Sethi revealed, “There are 20-30 lakh bikers across the country who work for last-mile commerce and e-commerce. Nearly two crore two-wheeler owners will be working in the gig economy till 2030. Of that, 70 percent has to be EVs. We hope to bring on board a handful of them who can get a regular source of income through our medium.”
Backed by investors including ex-Coca Cola India President Sanjiv Gupta, the EFaS start-up is currently bootstrapped and has no immediate plans to raise funds or file for an IPO in the medium term. Already having active discussions with Delhivery, Ecom Express, Shiprocket, and BigBasket for delivery solutions, the e-vehicle fleet provider is in advanced talks with Omega Seiki Mobility, Altigreen, Log9 Materials, Piaggio, and other OEMs for vehicle purchases.
Sethi believes that the transition to EVs is happening at a very slow pace because the current owner-operator fragmented model is not working well with the shippers (logistics firms).
“These shippers cannot wait for the critical mass or the maturity of this industry to happen in a few years’ time and then probably transition to e-mobility. They need a solution from their partner who can take off their load and who can deploy a complete solution with the rider and also take care of charging, maintenance, and finances. At the end of the day, they will be only paying subscription fees, maybe for a month or per delivery basis, the industry-specific solution from food tech to eCommerce to grocery,” asserted Sethi.
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