The last-mile logistic startup, LoadExx, is planning to step into its next business vertical, which is to manufacture vehicles, following fleet aggregation.
Speaking to Mobility Outlook, Amit Arora, Founder and CEO, LoadExx, said that the startup has been working on developing an e-LCV and now completed the design stage. It plans to commence testing and piloting the vehicle in the next couple of months. The vehicle’s body will be produced in house, while the powertrain and the batteries will be sourced from local suppliers, he said.
The company intends to assemble these e-LCVs in micro-factories. According to the CEO, it will be an IP for the company, but it will be assembled in partnership with other OEMs around the country.
He also mentioned that the company aims to set up about 35 factories across the country. “We’ve already finished two of them, one in Delhi NCR and one in Howrah, West Bengal. We have started the vehicle assembly and designing in these micro factories,” Arora added.
Arora stated that LoadExx plans to raise $8 million in the next seed round, which will primarily be used to increase the fleet size, among other things. The startup currently operates a fleet of 175 EVs, including L5 and other electric cargo vehicles. The company intends to have a fleet of 2500 to 3000 electric vehicles by September 2023, and in the next six years, it hopes to have a fleet size of 10,000 vehicles, he added.
In addition, the company intends to use the funding to expand the company’s reach to multiple cities. The plan is to expand to 100 cities over the next seven months, beginning with Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Jaipur, Bhagalpur, Siwan, Aligarh, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Bhiwandi, Hisar, Jind, and Panipat.
The startup’s current operations are limited mainly to West Bengal in locations including Howrah, Kolkata, North and South Parganas, Darjeeling, and Murshidabad. Lately, the company has begun operations in Delhi NCR, Patna, Gaya, Mumbai, and Pune.
Founded in March 2020, just before the national lockdown, the startup began operations in September 2020 from Kolkata. Began with 18 shipments per day, the company now averages 7,000 shipments.
The company claims to have over 500 b2c clients and 15 b2b clients, including Flipkart, Amazon Grocery, ITC, and Shadowfax.