Aiming for 1.5 lakh Simple One e-scooter sales in 18 months, says CEO of Simple Energy
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Suhas Rajkumar, Founder & CEO of Simple Energy said range, performance and safety, are the three questions that every consumer is asking today, and Simple One will definitely cater to those.
EV mobility startup Simple Energy has launched its first e-Scooter and it is already raising eyebrows. 'Simple One' comes with a certified range of 212 kilometers which is by far the highest among its peers.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Suhas Rajkumar, Founder & CEO of Simple Energy, said the range, performance and safety, are the three questions that every consumer is asking today, and Simple One will definitely cater to those.
"Range, performance and safety, these are the three questions that every consumer is asking today, and I think Simple One will definitely cater those much more than they expect. I think consumers are going to love it, they are going to help us build the empire on Simple One to other form factors going forward," Rajkumar said.
Below are the excerpts of the interview.
Q: I have to come to the two big points that I think resonates the most with customers — a range of 212 kilometers and a price of Rs 1.58 lakh including a fast charger. How have you managed to score big on both fronts? And does this give you a clear competitive advantage when you look at the rest of the market?
A: If you look at the same price point, you will not get beyond 100 kilometers of range or a bigger battery pack or a faster scooter or a much utility oriented scooter, which is purely what we want to aim at. So the scooter's utility is around 30 liters boot space. You have a great riding comfort, you have a range of 212 km. We have tried to close in our initial claim of 236 km. So that brings in a proposition where consumers are willing to look at an option, which is not only a value proposition in terms of the price point but also caters your burning question of range.
Q: So 1 lakh bookings I am given to understand have already been made. What kind of sales target do you have in mind? How many of these do you hope to sell in what period of time?
A: The pre bookings that we have got have crossed 1 lakh, and that also helped us gain the momentum and go forward and innovate further on that.
Apart from that, we are looking at about 1.5 lakh sales in the next 18 months, that's our realistic target. Hopefully we can cross that mark as well. Premium scooters are the way to go. A lot of people are OK to spend that and we look at volume game happening soon. So I think that's a Rs 1,400 crore order book that is on our table.
Q: The factory where we are in right now has a capacity of about one million. Are you looking to ramp up? What kind of period are we looking at in terms of expansion and ramp up of production?
A: Usually a ramp up will take about eight months because you have to expand the line, you have to expand your storage capacity, though we have catered that down to at least six months. So we will observe our bookings for the next six months and how our sales go through multiple cities because initially we are coming in Bangalore, but just a few months after that we are pressing the button and expanding into various cities. So phase 2 will cover at least 40-45 cities and phase 3 will cover the entire India. So if the demand skyrockets, we will anticipate that and expand the factory to its maximum capacity.
We have started working on building a larger capacity as well, it is in talks right now. So hopefully in the next 18 months, we'll have vision 2.0 for people to view at and we can scale much faster in our product.
Q: What is the launch pipeline looking like in terms of timeline itself? By when do you launch new products and what will they be?
A: It's much easier to put in the pipeline. In eight months, we'll have a production model announcement rather than a concept. So we are looking to productionise it first and then delivery begins within a week. So in eight months I think you will see at least one scooter coming in.
Q: How will these plans weigh on your revenue outlook? What is that going to be like? And where do you go from here?
A: Our focus is to add to the top line and double it to what the existing market is. For example, I think 25,000 scooters a month, that's the top selling scooter. So we are looking to double that up with our offerings with two or three more options on that. So that will improve our top line and also give us scale much faster than other people have. So we look to top the scale about in the next two years by introducing multiple variants.
While we understand there are consumers who are okay to purchase a much better product at a better price, our premiums sometimes don't really go with everyone. So we want to have options for everyone. And I think that is a strategy that we are going forward with.
Q: Are you looking at a revenue number as of now?
A: Rs 1,500 crore is what we are looking in the next 12 months and hopefully we can surpass that.
Q: I think $42 million has been the total fund that's come in over two rounds of funding. What is that fund pipeline looking like in terms of a timeline by, when will you go for the next one?
A: I think we are closing one more round in one month. We are in the midst of it and the new round will open again. I think we are raising around $100 million in that. We are looking at a lot of institutional interest in that. Hopefully we can close in on a big number before everything.
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