In Delhi, Rapido Will Move to Electric Bike-Taxis Next Year

Nitin Konde, Apoorva Bajj

Sep 18, 2024 — 2 min read

In Delhi, Rapido Will Move to Electric Bike-Taxis Next Year

Arvind Sanka, the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the ride-hailing startup Rapido, has informed a media outlet that the company is investigating the possibility of converting its bike-taxi service in Delhi to an all-electric mode within the next year. This would be accomplished through partnerships with companies like as Zypp Electric and Gogoro.

This change takes place at a time when the nation's capital is making tremendous progress in the adoption of electric vehicles, which is backed by the state's legislation regarding electric vehicles. Within the next year, the corporation plans to make the transition to using only electric vehicles in some cities. As an example, a company intends to launch this effort in Delhi to lessen the amount of pollution. Sanka stated that 25% of the company's bike taxi services are already electric in Delhi and that it would gradually expand its operations to other states as well.

First-mover Advantage

As competitors like Ola and Uber experiment with environmentally friendly solutions, Rapido may also gain a first-mover advantage in the bike-taxi industry as a result of this transition.

Zypp Electric and Gogoro are two of the fleet operators that the company collaborates with. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are also involved. In Bengaluru, the company also has its own electric vehicle fleet consisting of three-wheeler automobiles. In the event that there are fleet operators, company purchases from them. According to Sanka, in the event that there are no electric vehicle operators in a city, firm provides the drivers with its very own electric vehicle.

Promoting Sustainability

There are also negotiations taking place between companies like Uber and manufacturers of electric two-wheelers regarding the transition to electric vehicle fleet services or the formation of partnerships in order to provide driver partners with vehicles at a reduced cost. On September 16, 2023, the ride-sharing company Ola Cabs made the announcement that it will be relaunching its bike taxi service in Bengaluru, all of which would be operated by electric scooters.

Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder and chairman of Ola, stated that the company is willing to engage in collaboration with other local partners in order to acquire electric vehicles for the company. Currently, Ola Electric is the supplier of the company's electric two-wheelers. At the same time as this is happening, a number of states, including Karnataka and Delhi National Capital Region, are expanding their regulations regarding bike taxis.

A statement made by the government of Delhi in November 2023 that stated that it intended to electrify all bike taxis by the year 2030. A gradual transition to electric vehicles was permitted by the state government inside the fleets of taxi operators.