Bounce unveiled its first consumer electric scooter, the Bounce Infinity E1 at a starting price of ₹45,099 (ex-showroom Delhi).

If the customers buy the scooter with battery and charger, the price is ₹68,999 (Delhi ex-showroom). The scooters are available for pre-booking at a refundable amount of ₹499. Bounce Infinity E1 scooters are FAME II eligible and are expected to be delivered by March through both its dealership network and online platform.

Bounce plans to begin with setting up 100-200 dealerships across top 20 cities and thereafter will decide whether dealerships is the right model to go with or limit the dealership model to only smaller cities. Bounce plans to invest over $100 million across manufacturing of e-scooters and expanding the battery swapping infrastructure over the next 12 months.

Speaking to BusinessLine about the low price points of the Bounce Infinity E1 as compared to existing players like Ola and Ather, Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO and Co-Founder, Bounce, said, “We have used a lot of design thinking in building the scooter. We have used minimal plastics, plastics are very expensive right from moulds to the cost of making plastics. We have lesser plastics on the scooter which helps us save a lot of money. Second, we don’t have a big tablet on the scooter which we think is unnecessary, we have tried to integrate all the smart features on the phone instead. We have kept the scooter more functional and practical which has helped us in bringing down the cost.”

Further, the ‘battery-as-a-service’ option enables customers to buy Bounce Infinity E1 at an affordable price without the battery and pay for battery swaps. For each swap of an empty battery with a fully-charged one from Bounce’s swapping network, the customer will have to pay a fee of ₹35.

Swapping station network

Bounce has an existing swapping station network of close to 200 stations which have completed over 500,000 swaps. In the last month, Bounce has done multiple partnerships to build a wide battery-swapping network. Some of its partners include super app for cars Park+, car and bike roadside accident app Readyassist, co-living space Helloworld, Kitchens@ and Goodbox, along with plans to add partners. The company’ ambition is to build a dense battery swapping platform that can offer a swapping facility within 1 kilometre distance for its customers.

The company is looking at multiple partnership models including revenue sharing, and model where the partner gives Bounce access to their space and the rest is taken care by Bounce, among others. Hallekere noted that other OEMs also want to integrate with Bounce's battery swapping infrastructure as the company's batteries can also be used by three-wheeler EVs and so, the company is open to offering its swapping stations to other EV users as well.

The global shortage of chipsets and electronic parts has recently pushed delivery timelines for EV manufacturers in India. Responding to this, Hallekere said, “Chipset availability is something that will ease out overtime and there is only so much we can do around this. We have been continuously getting inventory whenever there was availability. We have planned well and let’s see how it plays out.”

Bounce Infinity has a range of 85 km on one charge and the battery takes about 4-5 hours to charge. The scooter has a torque of 83 Nm, top speed of 65 kmph, and ability to reach 0 to 40 kmph in 8 seconds. Some of the intelligent features of the scooter include geofencing, cruise control, anti-theft, tow alert and smart app which enables users to virtually control all aspects of the scooter, among others.

Launched in 2018, Bounce has raised over $220 million in funding from a clutch of marquee investors such as Accel India, Accel US, Sequoia Capital India, B Capital, Falcon Edge, Qualcomm, Chirate, Omidyar Network, Maverick Capital, etc.

comment COMMENT NOW