The Gurugram-based multi-brand electric vehicle and solutions provider, Mad About Wheels, aims to foray into the EV insurance vertical by January 2022.
The technology is ready, and initially, the company intends to begin with e2W insurance. In the following three months, it will also begin with e3W insurance, confined only for b2c players.
Speaking to Mobility Outlook, Amresh Khar, Founder, Mad About Wheels, said that the firm has already onboarded one of the insurance partners - Elephant Insurance. The business intends to add one more insurance partner, with whom it is in talks now.
In September 2021, the firm started with a new venture called ‘Byjli’, a multi-brand showroom for electric two/three-wheelers, acting as an extended arm to a few partners, including Omega Seiki Mobility, Ampere Motors, SES and EMotarad. At the same time, it has teamed with IDFC Finance and Bike Bazzar to finance these e-vehicles.
The basic idea behind such a showroom, dubbed an experience store, is to provide sales and aftersales services under one roof. The start-up will own the franchising network, where it would appoint dedicated dealers following a strict servicing schedule targeted toward EVs and consumer delight.
The company recently launched the fifth Byjli showroom in Gurugram. Starting from Chennai, it has these multi-brand showrooms in Noida and Indore. By the end of the year, the firm hopes to open another Byjli outlet in Hathras. Over the following year, it plans to develop a network of 50 similar outlets across 50 cities, he said.
To offer a complete solution to India’s EV owners, the company has partnered with EVRE, an EV charging infrastructure provider. The business hopes to construct 500 charging stations across 100 Indian cities due to this collaboration.
These chargers will be used by its dealer partners and the Byjli stores. By the end of March 2022, the goal is to have close to 100 charging stations installed across 30 cities, Khar said.
The company commenced operations in December 2019 as an online marketplace for electric vehicles and an extended warranty service provider for these vehicles. It currently has agreements with 400 dealerships of its partners across India for both services.
Moving forward, the founder confirmed to have added one more electric vehicle brand, with which it hopes to add another 15 dealerships for the extended warranty service by the end of January 2022.