E-VEHICLES. Gurgaon co takes its wheels to the Vatican

It’s nothing short of divine intervention for Gurgaon-based DOT, which has been focusing on “green mobility” in India. Founder and Managing Director Vineet J. Mehra is preparing to fly to the Vatican to meet the Pope.

Mehra hopes to take his line of green mobility solutions — e-bikes, electric cars and other services — to the Catholic Church’s headquarters soon.

Mehra, who speaks effervescently about his business ambitions, has been invited to be a part of the Global Sustainability Network Forum in Vatican City and to meet Pope Francis, who is well known for his progressive views on climate change. “We must be doing something right,” Mehra said.

Mehra started DOT in August last year with the aim of filling the gap left by public conveyance in Delhi — the first and last mile connectivity. And his motivation was to do it in a sustainable way without adding to carbon footprint or noise pollution and as such started with e-bikes.

“Initial three months we took to just perfect the two-wheelers,” Mehra told BusinessLine , adding that they had got e-bikes from several manufacturers but worked around it to perfect the model.

The 100 DOT bikes running around in Delhi-NCR now have a maximum speed of 25 km per hour.

“We wanted to, but couldn’t go the ‘Uber’ way for e-bikes because there is no inventory for that in India. So we own all the e-bikes. But we are aggregating e-rickshaws now,” Mehra said.

The company has invested about $2.5 million into the business, which now includes not just connectivity to and from metro stations and bus-stops but also delivery. “Wherever ‘mobility’ is required we want to step in,” the green tycoon said.

The company recently participated in a tender for rolling out 100 electric buses in Mumbai, and is looking at starting e-car services. DOT is working with every municipality to develop green systems, whether that be garbage incineration within running e-rickshaws, or leasing out e-bikes to post-offices to make postal services ‘green’, Mehra said.

Apparently even mobility even within the home (electric wheelchair) is on their radar.

DOT, which took off just a few months ago, is already looking to expand its presence not just across India (from Gurgaon and Delhi, currently) but also in 21 other countries.

“We have a committed investment of about $400 million from a prospective investor based out of the United Arab Emirates,” Mehra said.

The 35-year-old, who spent time in the shipping, steel and minerals industries, said, “We are working with partners in Australia, we are soon going to enter Canada and the United Arab Emirates, besides Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines and other South-East Asian countries that already have a two-wheeler and rickshaw culture.”

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