Earlier this month, Simple Energy announced its plans to raise funds worth $100 million in Series A funding, for which it is in talks with some global investors
Electric vehicle startup Simple Energy is planning to venture into manufacturing electric four-wheelers as part of its future product range, Simple Energy founder and CEO Suhas Rajkumar told recently.
“We are looking at going multiple and we are looking at obviously a four-wheeler as our future planning. We have a vision that is there. That is the reason we are increasing our R&D (research and development) team as well,” Rajkumar said.
The Bengaluru-based firm, which launched its maiden e-scooter called Simple One across 13 states this month, is readying to launch a business-to-business (B2B) product by this year-end besides an e-bike by next year in addition to a new powertrain in the next one to one-and-a-half year, Rajkumar told news agency PTI.
Emphasising that as a company it wanted to grow with multiple product offerings, he said, “We are just not looking at improvising the current product offering. We want to introduce into different sections in the automobile itself.”
Earlier this month, Simple Energy announced its plans to raise funds worth $100 million in Series A funding, for which it is in talks with some global investors. The funding round is expected to be completed by later this year.
“We are looking more into two wheels, we might go ahead and launch a four-wheeler then launching a two-wheeler,” he said.
Nevertheless, Rajkumar said the company will come out with two more products in the next three years while adding that it is too early to set a timeline, as the company right now is focused on starting production of the scooter at the manufacturing plant by the year-end.
“We are also focused on B2B products, more on the last-mile delivery and logistics. We will be introducing the product by year-end. Currently, it is in the testing and homologation stage. The B2B will be to serve a particular need of the market but our focus is always on B2C (business-to-consumer) because we are innovating on the powertrain,” Rajkumar said.
The company is setting up a factory with one-million capacity at Hosur (Tamil Nadu).
“We have been keeping adequate capacity so that if the demand increases, it can match with that demand. It will take at least three years to consume one million capacity. It is what we think but it will depend on how the market responds and we definitely have plans,” he said.
Rajkumar said that besides expanding across cities and states in the next two years, the company also will focus on exports rather than just domestic market.
As part of the long-term plan as of today, the primary focus will be on delivering into multiple cities increasing its footprints across India and not just in the 13 states it has announced. It also plans at least 1,000 charging stations in the next one to one-and-a-half year, he said.
Rajkumar further noted that the company does have plans to export as well and just not focus on the domestic market.
