Tale of a green comeback

The first time Anil Anantha Krishna, chairman and chief executive officer of EKO Vehicles, set out to manufacture eco-friendly vehicles, he came up against governmental rejection.

That was in Bangalore, back in 1974, with an electric two-wheeler called Vidyut24. Anantha Krishna’s second shot at engineering an eco-friendly success story fared much better, this time in 2005 with the Cosmic I and II, the ‘green’ two-wheelers that are carving a niche for his company in different parts of India.

Chasing an idea
 
In 1974, when the Vidyut24, a scooter that ran on batteries, was set to hit Bangalore’s roads, the Union Government pulled the plug on it. The official take was that India didn’t have regulations that would allow electric vehicles to run on its roads.

Forward 21 years: Anantha Krishna is back in India after a period in the US, he’s heading a new company, and guiding the launch of the Cosmic I and II, both of which hit the road in January 2005. The government, and the country, was by now much more receptive to the idea of an electric two-wheeler.

Customer comes first

Anantha Krishna says his company’s ability to win big will be defined by how well it manages customers after they have bought his vehicles. “Once we sell our product, our job is far from done,” he says.

“Our work really begins then.” That’s because of the nature of the vehicles EKO builds and the fuel they use. To help customers charge their Cosmics, the company is in the process of setting up ‘rapid charge points’  — which are much like petrol bunks —  at various urban centres, including at STD booths.

EKO plans to create a network of more than 100 dealers in the next six months. In three years Anantha Krishna hopes to have about 15,000 road-ready two-wheelers. “We can compete with China, which has 14 million electric vehicles on its roads,” he says.

Great growth potential
 
EKO’s vehicles, like battery-powered automobiles everywhere, are best for short commutes. That’s where their low operational and maintenance costs make a significant difference. The additional benefit is that it offers an eco-friendly alternative to traditional bikes.

That aside, this is an industry segment with tremendous growth potential. When Anantha Krishna started his business venture in 2004, with an investment of Rs10 crore, there were only 400 electric vehicles on Indian roads. Today, that number has climbed 10-fold, to 4,000 vehicles. Going green, clearly, is a paying proposition.