Bengaluru: Three Wheels United (TWU), a Bengaluru based tech-enabled financier of light electric vehicles, has forayed into the cargo segment through partnership with leading intra city logistics company Porter. Through this partnership, Three Wheels United will facilitate loans for partner drivers of Porter to easily switch from conventional cargo autos to EV cargo vehicles. This partnership is in line with Three Wheels United’s commitment to increase the adoption of electric auto rickshaws in India and promote sustainable mobility.
As per a report by Greenpeace South East Asia, the economic cost of air pollution is at an estimated $150 billion in India. The report states that clean transport and renewable energy not only bring significant reductions in toxic pollutants, but also help to keep climate change-causing greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. A switch from conventional engines to electric three wheelers can reduce carbon emissions and substantially contribute towards bringing down air pollution.
One of the key impediments for large scale adoption of EV three wheelers is the lack of available financing for drivers to easily switch to a less polluting vehicle. The financing options available for light vehicles require an extremely high down payment. Availing a loan is therefore much harder for drivers. Although the long-term benefits of electric auto rickshaws such as lower total cost of ownership and higher profitability compared to fuel operated ones are attractive, their upfront cost is higher. Three Wheels United was founded with an aim to remove these barriers in the adoption of electric vehicles. The company provides loans covering up to to 100% of the asset cost.
Commenting on the partnership, Pranav Goel, CEO and Co-Founder, Porter, said “As a leading intra city logistics company, we are committed to building an eco-system that will bring down carbon footprint and operations cost for our driver partners. As a first step we have partnered with Three Wheels United, a technology-enabled financier of light electric vehicles, to provide easy financing options and help our driver partners procure EV at lucrative terms. This partnership will provide a great opportunity for our partner drivers to shift to a more economical, highly profitable and less pollutive vehicle”
Cedrick Tandong, CEO and Co-Founder, Three Wheels United, said “TWU’s expansion into the cargo and logistics segment is another significant step towards our committed plan to remove barriers to increase the adoption of EVs in India. Our overarching goal is to reduce the climate impact of the transportation sector by helping drivers of three wheelers seamlessly switch to cleaner mobility. We are happy to be partnering with Porter to help their driver partners to shift to electric three wheelers and positively impact the environment”
Till date, Three Wheels United has worked with over 30,000 drivers offering them various products and services, financed 3000+ auto rickshaws resulting in reduction of 22,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, and the generation of an extra $20M in income for the drivers. They have financed over 100 EV vehicles and have closed a deal for the next 500 vehicles over the next two months.
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