Urban Transport Infrastructure November 2018 Urban Transport Infra November 2018 | Page 49

Interview
Photo: www.goldstoneebus.com
What has been the response to your
products? How much are you planning
to deliver by the end of the year?
Mr. Satyam: Within a short span of
six months, we have delivered 31
buses. We have done more than
200000 kilometers of commercial
runs.
All
State
Transport
Understandings (STUs) are extremely
happy with the products. We offered
a trial run to whoever ( undertaking)
has asked for it. This is because we
wanted that everybody should have a
feel
of
this
electric
public
transportation. We think electric
mobility for public transportation
should start in India. That is why, we
did the trial run in Delhi for three
months and it was a phenomenal
success. We are planning to do
another trial run soon. And we did a
trial run in Chandigarh and it was a
phenomenal success (too). We also did
a
trial
run
in
Rajkot,
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, and
even in Kerala. Currently, we are
doing commercial trial runs in two
routes in Uttar Pradesh i.e.,
between Agra-Noida and Lucknow-
Kanpur for the last two months. We
are also doing a commercial trial run
between Dehradun-Mussoorie in
Uttarakhand. The reports in both
states are extremely encouraging. By
the end of the year, we are definitely
seeing 200 units on the roads. The
major contracts were from 3 key
cities. Bangalore has asked for 150
WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
electric buses and we have won that
tender, 100 buses from Telangana
State
Transport
Corporation
for Hyderabad and we won that
tender. And the third is Best Mumbai
for 40 electric buses. Currently,
deployments are under way.
How will you taking on other players
in the market like Tata Motors, Ashok
Leyland, Eicher Motors, JBM Auto,
among others?
Mr. Satyam: Firstly, electric vehicles
are at a very nascent stage (in
India). Secondly, we don’t call them
competitors but “partners in electric
mobility”. The reason is electric
mobility has just come and we need
more and more players. What
happens is then there will be an
awareness created by everybody.
There is a space for 10-15 players to
grow in electric mobility (in
India).For us, it is not just selling.
After-sales is a very key component
actually in any industry. Selling is
only 50%, but the rest 50% is your
future business, company’s culture,
people’s opinion in a company, etc.,
which entirely depends on how you
respond to your service call. So we
are focusing very majorly on after-
sales service.
Will it be correct to say that you have
disrupted the bus market with the
next-generation technology?
Mr. Satyam: Let me give you the
analogy of smartphones. You know
when Apple came out with their
49
‘iPhone’ in 2007, that was a real kind of
smartphone in the market. I remember
Nokia CEO saying “Yes I truly feel that
there is something really beyond
Nokia’s capabilities.” I mean to say it is
not that the company (like Apple)
comes out with a disruption. After that,
Samsung came out with beautiful
things ( high-end smartphones). And
then when the (affordable) Android
phones came, you could see the
explosion of smartphones into the
(global) market. So had Apple been the
lone smartphone player, it could not
have been a great success. So likewise,
we might have brought the (EV)
technology much ahead of others. But
the whole lot of technologies change the
market actually. So it is a disruption in
the technologies. So even though we
have disrupted the market, we will be
like any other player in the next two
years or so.
Please can you also tell me about your
capex plans?
Mr. Satyam: As per the recent data,
there will be about 3 lakh buses are
going to be about 15+ years old and
have to replaced in the next 3-5 years.
Most of the STUs we are talking to,
would like to go for electric buses for
health and environment concerns. In
the long term, electric buses will have a
positive impact on their (operating)
margins. I understand most of the STUs
want to procure electric buses. So even
if they decide to go for half of them (
new fleet), 150,000 buses is the kind of
Urban Transport Infrastructure | November 2018