An EV upstart from Chhattisgarh is trying to break into the big boys' club by positioning electric two-wheelers as a 'family scooter'. Can the challenger brand Eblu give an electrifying fight to biggies like Ola, Ather, TVS and Bajaj as EVs enter an exciting phase in 2024?
Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Hyder Khan was well aware of the flip side. The auto veteran—he spent close to 25 years across multiple companies such as Bajaj Auto, Piaggio, Mahindra Rise, Force Motors and Kinetic Green Energy—was heavily stacked against intimidating odds. The biggest one was that of an unknown brand. “Why should consumers trust a little-known brand either in electric vehicles (EVs) or internal combustion engine (ICE)?” was still the big unanswered question for Khan when he was in the midst of a hectic EV two-wheeler rollout for Godawari Electric Motors in September last year. “Don’t worry, there will be buyers,” was what he used to constantly remind himself and tell the sceptics who based their gloomy prediction on conventional wisdom of buyers staying away from lesser-known brands. “We were taking a huge leap of faith,” he recounts.