Zoomcar to step up number of e-cars in its fleet in next 2 years

India's largest personal mobility platform to have presence in 25 countries in 3 years

Zoomcar, a self-drive car rental firm, plans to increase the number of electric cars in its fleet from the current 2 to 5 per cent to 30-35 per cent in the next couple of years. The company is well positioned to benefit from the electrification trend as the cars in its fleet clock a high number of kilometres making them more viable than the ones in the personal segment, said Greg Moran, Co-founder and CEO, Zoomcar. 

“The price of an e-car is a lot higher as compared to an internal combustion engine (ICE) powered one but our model allows very efficient use of a car. Hence we are very well positioned to take advantage of the electrification trend and the EV policy announced by the states,” Moran told Business Standard. Established in 2013, Zoomcar allows users to rent cars by the month, week, day or even hour.

Moran however, added that a lot will depend on the EV model launches by the automakers. According to Moran, the overall electrification trend will get a fillip if companies like Tesla that have the required scale get into the market.

In a bid to reduce import of fossil fuels and cut carbon emission, the government of India has been pushing electrification in the automobile market. Over the last three years various policy measures and incentives have been announced for a faster adoption to electric mobility under the FAME scheme.   

A strong preference for safe and secure means of transportation has helped the self drive business that was dented by the pandemic in a big way resurge and helped it reach the March levels, said Moran. 

He expects it to reach where it was in early 2020 before the pandemic broke, by the end of this month.  Zoomcar presently has 6500 cars deployed in the self drive car rental business.  There were close to 10,000 cars before the pandemic. “There’s a huge momentum and a strong tailwind,” he said.  This is even as corporate travel remains muted due to work from home.

Meanwhile, ahead of its listing in the US market which is likely to be done by end of this fiscal, the Sequoia-backed Zoomcar is scripting a plan to make inroads into newer markets. It has plans to have a presence in 25 countries over the next three years. This includes countries in Africa, South East Asia and South America.

In January this year, India’s largest personal mobility platform announced the launch of Zoomcar Mobility Services (ZMS), to provide a diverse array of software-based platform services across the entire spectrum of vehicle categories ranging from two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers, trucks and buses. ZMS will work across both internal combustion and electric vehicles and is fully hardware agnostic.

Zoomcar corners 80 per cent of the market share and claims to be the only self drive app that allows a share feature: subscribers can "share back" their car on Zoomcar's short-term rental platform in return for a revenue share, reducing their effective subscription cost by as much as 70 per cent.  Over the last few years, the company has partnered with several auto firms in India and has been offering subscription services on behalf of the companies.

In August last year, MG Motor collaborated with Zoomcar for a car subscription service. It uses the existing Zoomcar’s platform for reaching out to the masses. MG’s subscription offer is available for 12, 24, and 36 months with monthly payment options. However, with a longer tenure, the monthly charges are lesser.