Three Wheels United, Porter partners for accelerating e-mobility adoption in India
Bengaluru-based tech-enabled financier of light electric vehicles, Three Wheels United (TWU) has announced that it has ventured into the cargo segment through a partnership with leading intracity logistics company, Porter. Through this corporation, Three Wheels United will enable loans for partner drivers of Porter to effortlessly switch from conventional cargo autos to EV cargo vehicles. This corporation is in line with Three Wheels United's pledge to increase the adoption of electric auto-rickshaws in India and encourage sustainable mobility.
Mentioning the partnership, Pranav Goel, CEO and Co-Founder, Porter, said "As a leading intracity 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 EVs 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"
One of the key obstacles 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 enormously high down payment. Availing of 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 to eliminate these hurdles in the adoption of electric vehicles. The company provides loans covering up to 100 percent of the asset cost.
To date, Three Wheels United has worked with over 30,000 drivers offering them several products and services, financed 3000+ auto-rickshaws resulting in a reduction of 22,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, and the generation of an extra $20 million 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.
