The company is building an initial facility an hour outside the city with a target to start operations in 2022 and has a capacity to produce one lakh electric two-wheelers a year. It aims to open a second, larger plant in Dharmapuri in 2023 with a capacity to manufacture 12.5 million such scooters annually.
The startup has raised $21 million so far and hopes to close another round of funding in the “three-digit millions” Suhas Rajkumar, Chief Executive Officer of the company.
The 25-year-old, who is the co-founder, said over a video call. “We want to follow in the footsteps of Tesla and Rivian who do everything themselves and do it right.”
Simple Energy plans to purchase 600 acres for the new facility, which will be complete with an R&D center and testing facility.
The electric scooter market in India is competitive – and treacherous. A local rival, Ola Electric Mobility Pvt, had already gone public with plans to have the world’s largest electric scooter factory, which would manufacture 10 million vehicles annually by 2022. But the company said this month that it would delay shipments due to global chip shortages.
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Simple Energy claims that its flagship Simple One scooter, launched in August, has the longest range in the country. It also aims to optimize models for foreign markets.
“We are manufacturing three different variants of the scooter, including affordable and premium versions, to target global markets such as Southeast Asia, the European Union and Australia, where demand is high,” Rajkumar said.
He said the chip shortage is creating some challenges. But the company signed agreements with Texas Instruments Inc., Renesas Electronics Corp. and two other chipmakers to shut down as much supply as possible, the CEO said.