As the E2W segment continues to grow, with several news players introducing innovative new products, the tides have turned in favour of practical and affordable electric two-wheeled mobility for daily duties. And why not? It’s easy to use, almost free to run and maintain, and is very much gender neutral in case of electric scooters. However, near zero maintenance does not mean some engineering and troubleshooting concerns do not pop up occasionally. Mobility Outlook had a discussion with Pragya Goyal, Director, VEGH Automobiles, where she mentioned how the brand is working towards making the aftersales service a key concern for the brand.
In the early days around 2020s when VEGH Automobiles was being conceptualised, the senior leadership observed that the E2W market in India was segmented in two parts. The premium segment with cutting-edge products for the passenger segment, and the commercial segment with cost-effective solutions for last-mile deliveries. The premium segment addresses the Tier 1 customers, where the service and aftersales support is readily available. However, the commercial segment still struggles when it comes to an effective aftersales network. VEGH was started with the vision of creating good quality electric scooters which can be offered to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities for both personal and commercial use, with a sound service network as well.
The company started in October 2021, and by February 2022 VEGH had secured ICAT certification for two of its products. Plant production had started in a few months after approval, but quick enough VEGH had its first ten dealerships setup in north and north-east part of the country, including Jammu, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi/NCR, Orissa, Assam and West Bengal. Post that the company has been working towards expanding its teams and R&D capabilities. “We are going to setup around a 100 dealerships by March 2024, starting Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. But our focus is complete aftersales service with VEGH Care” added Goyal.
“Government schemes have been a great push for electric mobility, as visible in sales numbers today. It was more evident when the sales numbers slightly reduced when the incentives were taken back. But the market has picked up and we can see the EV adoption being positive in the E2W and E3W segment” she mentioned. Since EVs are still in their nascent stage when it comes to adoption, these government policies and schemes are very important to support manufacturers according to her.
EV development requires qualified power electronics engineers, which is another challenge manufacturers are facing today. “We need good electronic and powertrain engineers to understand the complexities of EV development. Our education system too needs to be upgraded and include EVs as a major subject for new-age engineers. VEGH offers a few internship opportunities for students to come and learn at our facility” she added.
The company has been extensively working with its suppliers to refine its products. The R&D division particularly has to extensively work on these aspect and proof all VEGH E2Ws. Working with the distributors and gaining their confidence still remains an issue for EV start-ups, but Goyal is confident this is improving consistently as the products are becoming more refined. “We have a separate program that focuses on retention and profitability for dealer partners, which has improved the trust quotient for our company. We constantly take feedback from these dealers about the products, who in turn get feedback from their customers and feed it back to us. This approach works wonders as product performance data and problems get reported from the dealers themselves involving them in the product improvement strategy’ states Goyal.
VEGH is currently working towards developing a new product which will cater to both delivery and passenger mobility. Also, there are plans of developing commercial E3Ws for the L5 category, which are about a couple of years away from the market.
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