Real Life EV Story
Vimal Patil
Distributor - Electric Cycles
City - Bangalore
Distributor - Electric Cycles
City - Bangalore
The reason behind why I quit my job and started promoting Electric Vehicles!
The reason why I quit my job and started promoting Electric Vehicles! The reason is simple: Frustration, Passion & Money! Let me tell you an honest thing, Money in this business is not worth discussing. I have got many companies by now following my personal and my company's social accounts just to make sure I am OK. Not because I've grown so rich but because I haven't paid their bills yet! Who on earth will have BESCOM following you on Twitter :p Let me address the frustration part: IT guy into selling software! Sigh! You can make out the rest. Passion was what actually pulled me into the industry. Daily traffic chaos, pollution, the noise & the effects on health were drastic and I always believed in doing something rather than cribbing about it. After some thorough research, I picked up distribution for an EV company and started promoting it. I started with Electric Bicycles which I felt was a genuine solution to end the daily traffic chaos while traveling within city limits. Starting from day 1 till date the experience has been awesome with each customer being a unique one and I enjoy interacting with every customer of mine, just to know them better and why they bought or did not buy an Electric Vehicle. The first aspect is the cost which customer feels is expensive but for me, I believe it's priced too low compared traditional motor vehicles. Ebikes are priced close to 35,000 (The one I sell) and I still feel it's cheap. The logic behind this is pretty simple and you don't need an IQ to understand this. If you are traveling a distance of 50 km in city limits you need to shell out Rs.100 of petrol on a daily basis. Anyone spending less than this might be the ones who switch off their motorbike on a decline, as one of my friends used to do, just to get some extra km. But I don't think that this would be the case with most of us because in Bangalore city "everyone is in a rush and none of them ever make it on time". Considering 22 days of working in a month, 22×100=Rs.2200 spent on petrol every month. And those who spend higher than this on expensive bikes I have no clue why they ever took it out of the showroom just to drive at mere speeds of 20kmph or 30Kmph. High-end bikes are not for cities with traffic chaos. Now consider the servicing part. Every Bike has to get serviced once at least in 2 months and people stand in ques in front of the service station at 7am, dressed in their nightwear, red eyes, and sleepy faces. Either look at their bikes or their faces only one word comes to mind "Holy S**t" ! Now each Service costs close to Rs.2000 and they don't mind paying it. So total cost per month is Rs.3200. Yearly cost 3200×12= Rs.38400. Let alone be the cost of registration, emission Test, and Insurance. So Ebikes @Rs.35000 are not expensive at all! Now the time and comfort factor! Areas in Bengaluru like Bellandur road , Silk board, Outer Ring road , ITPL road and name any major road and all are filled with traffic. A distance of 15 Km nearly takes 2 hrs in a car and 1.25 to 1.5 hrs on a two wheeler solely depending on the psychology of the rider if he considers pedestrian path as road or not. Most of the commuters do White collar Jobs and you hardly see any luggage being carried by them most of the times. So I felt e-bikes will be the perfect and fastest mode of commute and me and my customers know it well. Yet there are some people who feel it's more comfortable to sit in the car and complete the office work like sending emails or conference calls in the car and spend 4-6 hrs every day just being on the roads. What I wonder is why can't they go back home sit with their family and still do these emails or calls? Maybe some don't have comfortable chairs at home :p Or maybe they just want to stay away from their husbands and wives for some more time... Reasons may vary but cannot be justified. And no company on earth will shut down if it's Boss or employee did not receive a call while he was on the way to his home or didn't respond to an email! Yet I have many customers who chose comfort over time and move on. On a closing note, many of us have become addicted to comforts in life. We don't care about our environment, our health nor out time. All we care about is COMFORT which is not that important when compared to "time spent with family & friends" Oops, I forgot one other Spectrum of people who choose cars for status. For them, I have a response. You get cars at 10K down payment and nobody cares about your status unless you are in a BMW or In Mercedez. It's just a box with 4 wheels and is useless unless you are carrying some luggage. Even an individual with 20K salary can easily afford a good car. So it's not about status at all. Last thing, thanks to all Cycling groups and EV enthusiasts who got in touch. Many people across the nation and even beyond got in touch with regards to research and business aspects. The industry is set to grow large but in India, it's the thought process of the people which needs to be changed... Thank you for your VALUABLE time for reading this! Contact me for e-bikes in Bengaluru +91 8951000900 FB Page - https://www.facebook.com/Inncrypto/?fref=ts |
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Do you use an electric car or an e-bike and would like to share your experience for the benefit of others?
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Do you use an electric car or an e-bike and would like to share your experience for the benefit of others?
If yes, please contact us and we will be happy to include your story. Do send us some pics!