Interview with Ankit Khatry
Co-founder, Emflux Motors
Date:
16 Jan 2018
| Author: P.Tharyan
Briefly
tell us how you decided to enter the electric vehicle space? What is your
vision?
Varun Mittal, Vinay Raj Somashekar and I are the co-founders of Emflux Motors. Varun’s dream was to make
superbikes and supercars since his college days but he did not have the time,
experience, money and resources to make it happen. So, he continued his studies
and joined BHEL upon graduating from IIT Delhi. He then moved to Europe for pursuing
Masters in Management. After working for several years in Europe and Africa, he
returned to India and joined Jugnoo (an
App based business model that claims to be a one-stop solution for all your
hyper-local needs).
During his time at Jugnoo, Varun met
with an accident which halted his journey for several months. This accident
gave him enough courage to follow his dreams of building electric vehicles.
Right after his recovery from the accident, Varun started Emflux Motors with Vinay (former designer at TVS Motors) and me (Varun’s
teammate at Jugnoo). We
decided to join him in his journey to make electric vehicles. Meanwhile,
investors like Meher Roy Chowdhury, Nikhil Arora, Samar Singla and others gave him the
confidence and strength to follow his dreams and ideas by trusting and funding
Emflux Motors.
We are working on top-down
approach for our motorcycle where our mission is to empower 10 million electric
two wheelers in India by 2027 with our two - pronged market focus - firstly
build brand and loyalty by producing high - performance electric motorcycle and
secondly create an ecosystem of partner OEMs to whom we will become the
technology and component supplier.
What are
you trying to build under Emflux?
The electric motorcycle concept is
relatively new, even for the world market where electric motorcycles truly
arrived only in the last five years. In India, till date, we have only seen
launches of electric scooters which are the low-performance variants in the
two-wheeler category.
The electric superbike that we are
building aims to dispel the myths about the electric two-wheelers in the Indian
market. We are working on a motorcycle that is not only a means to provide
emission free transport for commuters but also it will be a technologically
advanced and high-performance electric motorcycle.
Can you
share the range, battery life, top speed that you want to achieve?
The electric motorcycle will have
a range of 200 km in city ride condition, can accelerate from 0 - 100 kmph in
3.0 Seconds and can achieve a top speed of 200 kmph (Electronically Limited)
The vehicle will be powered by
Li-ion 9.7 kWh high power cells. We will be giving 5 years /1,00,000 kms
warranty on battery and we are using AC Induction Motor - 60 kW (Limited to 53
kW from the controller).
The main features of the Emflux
superbike include Brembo Brakes, Ohlin’s Suspension, Dual channel ABS, Single
Sided Swingarm, fully connected smart dashboard with AI capabilities. More details
and features to be unveiled at Auto Expo’18.
What
about the funding for your venture, how is it progressing?
We initially raised some capital
from co-founders, friends and family. Followed by a round from some serial entrepreneurs
including Samar Singla (Co-founder of Jugnoo & Click Labs). As of now, we
have a comfortable runway to showcase our bike in Auto Expo 2018 and a year
thereafter. We will be focusing on fundraising after Delhi Auto Expo to bring
the production model to market in record time.
How far
are you from launch?
We are unveiling our 1st electric
superbike “Emflux One” at the Auto Expo’18. This will be available for public
in April, 2019. We will follow a complete online model for sales through our
website using digital payment methods. Initially, we will open experience centers
in Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai followed by other parts of the country.
Are you
building any tech in-house? What will differentiate your bike from others
(apart from its performance?
Yes, we have developed Electric
Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE), Master controller and complete drivetrain
technology in-house which includes Motor, Motor Controller, Battery pack,
Battery Management System (BMS), Charger Circuit.
This gives us competitive
advantage over others in the form of intellectual property, better agility and
scope of customization as well as better efficiency. Since we developed all the
parts by ourselves, we have the optimal coordination between different
components.
Apart from performance, components
such as Ohlin’s suspension (premium variant), Brembo Brakes would be another
differentiator.
But our main advantage lies in our
after sales approach. We will always be in reach of our customers. Our aim is
not to sell vehicles and get away. We will serve customers whenever and
wherever they need us. If someone is stuck somewhere due to any fault in bike,
we will get the bike repaired at customer’s location and that too at company’s
cost. Users will also be receiving over-the-air software upgrades to enjoy the
benefits of our R&D.
What
options are you going to provide your customer for charging?
Our Superbike “Emflux One” will
have a range of 200 kms on one complete charge of Battery. Assuming a person
travels 30 -35 kms in a day within city the bike will run for 5 – 6 days
without charging. Also, we are providing in-built charger in the bike that can
be used to charge their bike at home with normal 5 Amps or 15 Amps socket. We
will later be installing WARP Chargers across connecting highways. These
charges will charge the battery 0- 80% in 36 mins.
