Sooorya EV Aims To Disrupt Last Mile Transportation With Its 8-Seater Vehicle
Sooorya EV, Founded by Christie Fernandez has developed an 8-seater electric taxi, which is tailormade for ridesharing segment in the emerging markets of the Indian subcontinent, ASEAN region, Africa and South America.
Fernandez said, “This is a segment which requires attention and large manufacturers are not looking at it seriously. Most of them are not interested in fleet or taxi segment and I realised this it is an opportunity to redefine our vehicles as a manufacturer. Also, our vehicles are designed and engineered to bring in technology and affordability.”
The Singapore-based firm has already unveiled the 3D model of the vehicle, which is designed on the modular vehicle architecture platform. To make its global debut in India, the zero-emission, purpose-built vehicle is estimated to be priced under Rs 10 lakh (tentatively) and will be run on either fixed or swappable batteries.
Soorya EV is planning to have the physical prototype ready in 18-24 months from now, subject to the outbreak getting abated. It would entail $5 million investments for the prototype thereafter more investments in setting up the microfactory.
“Our vehicle is for the passenger fleet segment particularly ride hailing operators, Independent owners that buy vehicles and attach themselves to Ola, Uber, Grab, etc.. shuttle service providers, corporates tapping employee transport, Fernandez added.
The unchristened car will be built at multiple locations such as Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, etc. in phases. In a 5 years’ timeframe post the launch, the company is looking to earn a $5 billion topline on the back 1 lakh units sales of its upcoming product.
“We are looking at an initial investment of $15 million with $5 million for us to build the prototype. We have enquiries for 7,000 units and have set an initial target of producing 10,000 units. In 5 years’ time, we will be reaching a global unit level of 100 thousand units per annum.”
