Electric scooter-maker River eyes 1 lakh sales by 2025

BANGALORE: The two-year-old Bangalore-based electric vehicle startup River, is targeting to touch an ambitious sales volume of one lakh units of electric scooters in the fiercely competitive market in the country over the next three years.

River, founded in March 2021, backed by marquee investors such as US-based Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital, Japanese Toyota Ventures of Toyota Corporation, Maniv mobility and Trucks VC with a total of Rs 105 crore, plans to introduce all new three scooter models.

“Our sales target is over 1 lakh units in the year 2025 which is easily achievable with our upcoming all new models which will stand out in the growing electric scooter market,” Aravind Mani, co-founder and CEO at River told Financial Chronicle.

On Wednesday the company launched its first electric scooter called Indie, which the company called the SUV of scooters priced at Rs 1.25 lakh at Bangalore showroom. Deliveries will begin in August.

River Indie competes with the likes of Bajaj Chetak, TVS iQube and Ola S1.

“This year, we will 3,000 to 5,000 units as will streamline supply chain and distribution model, “ Mani, who was vice president business strategy at Ultraviolette, said, adding that in 2024 sales volume will touch 30,000 to 36,000 units across 50 dealers in as many cities. River will start selling Indie first in Bangalore and in the neighbouring cities like Chennai and Pune and gradually expand pan India in a phased manner.

At present, River has 300 employees, including 240 engineers working at its R&D Centre in Bangalore and production is slated at its newly built factory in Bangalore in April 2023.

Its first electric scooter Indie is locally designed and manufactured except that Lithium cells are imported form south Korea and Taiwan and the battery pack is made at its R&D Centre.

Last year India sold a total of 6 lakh electric scooters and the trend is growing up with more and more consumers opting for green vehicles.

With a powerful motor of 6.7 kW can take Indie scooter to a top speed of 90 kmph and it can switch between three ride modes like Eco, ride and rush. The 4kWh battery provides a real range of 120 km and can be charged to 80 per cent in 5 hours with a standard charger, the company claimed.

River provides 5 year warranty for the battery pack or 50,000 km whichever is earlier.