Startups set to break world record for longest EV motorcycle ride

Bengaluru: Startupnrev, a collaboration of two riders, John Kuruvilla and Gautam Khot from Brigade REAP and four Indian startups including Orxa Energies, SpareIt, Pothole Raja and Charzer have come together to attempt to break the current world record for the longest EV motorcycle ride through an 'Electric-BharatMala'.

The 'Electric-BharatMala' route, comprising of 14,216 km is planned along the Arabian Coast towards Kanyakumari, and up the coast of the Bay of Bengal to West Bengal, and onward to North East India proceeding to touch the crown of India along the foothills of the majestic Himalayas. The route then moves towards the Rann of Kutch, the Gulf of Khambhat and down till Goa before taking the Western Ghats back to Bangalore. 'Electric- BharatMala' will be flagged off from Bengaluru on 4 February 2022.

The rider duo will ride The Mantis EV motorcycle from Oxra Energies. The support team will be led by Pothole Raja, who will ensure a smooth ride for the team by fixing over 1000 potholes on the proposed route, while Charzer, India's largest network of EV charging stations, will take care of the charging of the motorcycles and SpareIT will provide its service network and EV-ready spares. The current world record for the longest ride on an EV motorcycle is 12,379 km.

Speaking about the proposed attempt to create a new world record, B Sriramulu, Minister of Transport and Social Welfare said, "This is the first time that an attempt is being made to cover 14000+ km on an electric motorcycle. It is also an attempt to create a new world record. I am very happy that such an initiative is being undertaken under the Make in India program of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi by EV startups from Karnataka."

Karnataka was the first State to introduce a comprehensive EV policy and has emerged as a hotspot for EV businesses in India, both in EV and EV ancillary manufacturing as well as R&D segments, said the minister.

"The manufacturing of e-vehicles and their associated components is expected to increase the share of manufacturing in India's GDP to 25% over the next few years. This event will create awareness about the electric vehicles capability and reliability and will help reduce vehicular emission, which is one of the key contributors to air pollution. I wish the team every success," he added.

Explaining the objective of the ride, John Kuruvilla, Electric-BharatMala Rider and Mentor Brigade REAP said, "The focus of this ride is three-fold. Firstly, we want to remove anxiety with regard to electric vehicles in terms of range, performance, servicing and charging. Secondly, we want to use this ride to promote road safety by demonstrating the use of recycled plastic waste to fix potholes and most importantly we want to use this ride to encourage students in over 25 colleges and universities, along the way, to become job creators rather than job seekers. We will be presenting to these students the amazing stories of the #MadeInIndia startups that are accompanying us on this ride."

Dr Prajwal Sabnis, Co-founder Orxa Energies, manufacturer of the The Mantis said that they invested over four years to design a high performance EV street motorcycle guaranteeing a power packed riding experience. It has a top speed of 140 kmph with an estimated range of 200 km on a single charge and uses battery swap technology.

"We will have a pilot vehicle and a chase vehicle which will be carrying spares, batteries and also material for road safety demonstrations and pothole fixing en route. The roundtrip across the country will have 54 touch points including Mangaluru, Ernakulam, Kanyakumari, Chennai, Ongole, Puri, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Kolkata, Darjeeling, Guwahati, Gorakpur, Nainital, Dehradun, Shimla, Leh, Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Bikaner, Udaypur, Jamnagar, Porbander, Bhavnagar, Surat, Mumbai and Goa, before returning to Bengaluru. We expect the mountainous and desert terrains with its low and high temperatures to test both rider endurance and EV motorcycle reliability" explained Gautam Khot, Electric-BharatMala Rider and Mentor Brigade REAP.

The entire ride of the 'Electric-BharatMala' is estimated to be around 316 hours, and will cover 24 Indian states over a span of around 54 days.

Charging infrastructure critical to the successful adoption by consumers is being provided by Charzer, another Bangalore based startup that is disrupting the EV charging space through its Kirana Charzer concept.

Another important aspect of mobility that is not top of mind with both customers and investors is the after-sale service and spares network. Which is where SpareIt, another EV focused startup from Bangalore is setting up an EV equipped & trained service network pan India.

Both Charzer and SpareIt are providing the necessary infrastructure for this Bharat Mala journey.

Stopping at 20+ colleges en route with a message on road safety by Pothole Raja and on why this is the best time to startup for young minds, by the team from Brigade REAP.