The UAE’s mega plans to promote green energy and healthy living has lured an India-based EV (electric vehicle) start-up to enter the Gulf country, with ambitious plans to develop and expand the e-bike market and also consider making it the regional base for its global expansion.
EMotorad (EM), the Pune-based manufacturer of e-bikes, is also looking to set up a manufacturing facility in the UAE and attract investors from the region to fund its aggressive global growth plans.
“We have big plans for the UAE in terms of driving e-mobility across the country in tandem with the government initiatives of promoting clean and green transport, besides healthy living,” Rajib Gangopadhyay, founder, EMotorad, told Arabian Business.
“The UAE has been developing its infrastructure, especially the road and transport infrastructure, on the lines of Europe with cycling tracks, charging stations and allied facilities. With Europe currently being among the largest markets for e-bikes, we believe it’s only a matter of time for the trend to catch up in the UAE,” said Gangopadhyay, whose company is one of the leading manufacturers of e-bikes – or e-cycles – in the world, with four manufacturing facilities spread across India, China and Taiwan.
EMotorad has been manufacturing and supplying e-bikes to companies across the globe for seven years before it decided to launch its own brands through a start-up venture last year.
The EMotorad founder said the start-up’s move to enter the UAE – its first foray into the global market – was based on mainly two factors – its assessment that the global shift towards electric mobility is now inevitable, and the UAE government’s progressive approach in terms of promoting new concepts, start-ups and ideas.
“We believe our smartly engineered e-bikes will benefit the country as a whole as we are bringing an altogether new and exciting way of commuting,” Gangopadhyay said, adding that the venture will consider setting up a manufacturing facility in the country, depending upon the demand growth in the region as also in its other proposed international markets.
“The UAE can definitely work as a gateway for our global plans,” he said.
The start-up launched four models – T-Rex, Doodle, Trible and Ener-G – in the UAE last month in partnership with a local firm.
Gangopadhyay, however, said the UAE is still a nascent market for e-bikes, as the existing players mainly operate in the unorganised sector, leading to serious after-sales-services-related problems for customers.
“We consider this as a great opportunity for us as this will enable our venture to develop a well organised market for e-bikes and also emerge as the largest player, as the market expands in the UAE,” he said.
The EV start-up founder said the company is now waiting for customer feedback on the products before moving into the next phase of growth plans in the country, and also into the wider Middle East region.
While Ener-G is a mini scooter, exclusively designed for the delivery segment, Trible is a tri-fold e-bike for the last-mile commute. The other two models are meant for leisure travel.
“These bikes, especially Ener-G and Trible, have been specifically designed keeping the UAE demography and customer needs in mind and perfectly match their use-cases. Trible is a pick-up and go e-bike that suits the UAE market to perfection,” Gangopadhyay said.
While Doodle carries the highest price tag of AED4,599, T-Rex is priced at AED3,499, Trible at AED3,399 and Ener-G at AED3,599.
The e-bike brands are sold through both offline outlets and also online marketplaces such as Amazon and Noon, besides the company’s own website.
The company is currently in the process of tying up with dealers across the UAE.
On the expansion plans, Gangopadhyay said the company is already marketing its products in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and will soon be commencing in Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman.
“We are also set to expand to other international markets such as Oman, the UK, Spain and Japan,” Gangopadhyay said.
Regarding the start-up’s fundraising plans, Gangopadhyay said the company has recently closed its first round and will be looking at going in for the second round once its international growth plans pick up steam.
“One of the reasons for entering the UAE market is to tap investors in the country and the region. We are currently ‘entertaining’ many investors but want to look for more so that we get the best match who can also help in scaling up our operations fast,” Gangopadhyay said.
Follow us on
