Many Indian startups have begun to experiment with electric vehicles (EVs). While most of them take the same path with their businesses, Akash Gupta’s Zypp Electric has gone outside the box and risked a fusion that few have successfully executed. Businesses all over the world are actively looking to switch to EVs, whether due to a government mandate or the desire to reduce their carbon footprint. The logistics industry, which is notorious for its carbon footprint, urgently needs to make this transition, and Zypp Electric has taken notice. It leases electric bikes complete with battery infrastructure and maintenance support to such businesses, removing the need for them to invest large sums in purchasing EVs. Their platform assists in the monitoring and operation of these e-bikes.
Zypp also cleverly prevents e-bike theft. These e-bikes have been fully tech-enabled, aside from the usual KYC of the driving partners. There is no key, and the bikes are geo-fenced so that they can always be tracked. Their customized battery management system ensures that the batteries are properly utilized. “We have proper triggers baked into the app, which tells the driver the right time to charge the bike,” Gupta, CEO and Co-founder of Zypp Electric, explains.
But that isn’t all. Zypp has also figured out how to fund its own purchase of these bikes. “All of these bikes are owned by HNIs who enjoy investing in these assets. It’s similar to investing in an FD, mutual fund, or real estate as an alternative asset/investment earning plan.” Zypp offers these investors a 20% pre-tax return for a three-year plan, after which it offers to buy them back, effectively transforming itself into an EV fintech firm!
Zypp’s ambitions for expansion are straightforward. Expansion. Gupta aims to do it all, whether it’s increasing the number of bikes they currently deploy (which is expected to reach 15,000 within 12-18 months), increasing the number of clean deliveries in the country, or expanding their operations from Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad to Bengaluru and Mumbai.
This will not be easy; the biggest obstacle in Zypp’s plans is the limited number of bikes available at the moment. “Because the EV ecosystem and OEMs are still in their infancy, none of the OEMs can deliver 1000-2000 bikes per month today, even though we are ready to buy that many bikes every month.” Gupta also wishes for more robust bikes that are suitable for Indian terrain. Zypp has a positive outlook and believes that with the right nudge, it can propel the country toward meeting its clean energy goals.
Zypp electric founder about AI and ML
“Instead of logistics, we are establishing a data company. The future of mobility is all about data and the insights we gain from it. We collect data from every vehicle component, including brake shoes, tyres, batteries, riding patterns, mobilization, and geo-fencing. For OEMs looking to build future scooters or batteries, our data will be a gold mine.
Our customers also provide us with a wealth of information. Who are these customers, what do they order, how frequently do they order, what platforms do they order from, and how much carbon do they save? We also have a lot of data on our customers, which can help us monetize in the future.”
The delivery executive generates a large amount of data for us. Where he is from, how long he works, his credit score, earning pattern, and saving pattern are all important factors to consider. From the “India story” perspective, the data has a high impact. Because everything is technologically enabled, there is a lot more data about deliveries. How to optimize the following delivery and save money for our customers on the next delivery. All of this data can be used to power a drone delivery system or an autonomous delivery ecosystem. We can create AI/ML algorithms to improve asset utilization. All of these things are part of the data funnel we’ve created, which will generate a lot of monetization in the future.
Furthermore, we are the only company that has completed full-stack data in-house. We see businesses trying to outsource or use SaaS panels, but we have our own data infrastructure and everything is hosted on our servers. That SaaS is all in-house.
Conclusion
Zypp Electric is a leading last-mile delivery fleet management company that operates entirely on electric vehicles. They operate in ten Indian cities, have a fleet of 2,000 vehicles, and make 10,000 deliveries per day. Zypp Electric reduces the carbon footprint of logistics with each delivery and increases the savings per delivery for delivery executives.
