Bounce to add 4,000 EVs to fleet by Feb, go 100 pc electric by Q3 FY22

Shared mobility platform Bounce on Friday said it plans to add 4,000 e-scooters on its platform by February and transition to a 100 percent electric vehicle fleet by the third quarter of FY22.

"We have been transitioning to green mobility since early this year and every vehicle added since February 2020 has been electric. We approximately have 6,000 scooters and 50 percent of these are electric," Bounce CEO and Co-founder Vivekananda Hallekere told PTI.

By the third quarter of the financial year 2021-22, Bounce aims to have 100 percent deployment of electric vehicles on the platform, he added.

In the last few months, Bounce has seen a steady rise in the number of daily rides and has reached 35 percent of its pre-COVID-19 numbers.

It resumed operations in many cities and Tier-II markets, including Hassan, Mysore, Vijayawada, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Before the COVID-19 lockdown, Bounce did about 1.3 lakh rides on a daily basis.

The platform has been focusing on streamlining supply chain and operations as it accelerates the adoption of EVs.

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The company aims to address the ever-growing, highly inadequate commute requirement in a green, sustainable, and climate-friendly manner, and is working towards making its rides carbon neutral by 2022.

"We always believed that widespread adoption of EVs will happen only by fleet operators as the backend infrastructure can be built before fleet deployment, thus solving the catch-22 situation. When COVID-19 impacted business, we took advantage of the period to accelerate our EV adoption strategy," Hallekere said.

The company has built strategic partnerships with several OEMs in the electric and battery space to achieve this green vision, he added.

"We will continue to lead the micro-mobility sector by providing clean, affordable and convenient options for the daily commute," he said.

Bounce currently offers its bikes to consumers under three plans — Short Term Rentals (STR), Long Term Rentals (LTR), and Rideshare.

STR allows the bike to be rented for two to 12 hours a day, encouraging better utilisation of bikes throughout the day. LTR enable customers to rent bikes for 15-45 days. All bikes are sanitised, following the necessary safety protocols.