Chairman Anand Mahindra is looking at leveraging the strength and experience of San Francisco-based shared electric mobility firm Scoot Networks, in which it is a major investor, for a multi-modal approach of shared mobility to tackle pollution and congestion problems especially in the National Capital Region.
Mahindra group is exploring the possibility of introducing electric kick scooters as clean last-mile mobility solution.
“We believe that this vehicle is frankly the best last mile solution, the cleanest solution the world will see,” Mahindra told PTI here in an interview.
Stating that adopting the electric kick scooter would be like “leapfrogging” to mobile telephony from landline, he said, “This we believe is the democratisation of last mile in clean manner, which is good for the planet.”
An electric kick scooter is powered by a battery-driven electric motor and can reach a maximum speed of 25 kmph. It has a foldable chassis with a large deck in the centre on which the rider stands and its two wheels are much smaller than conventional scooter wheels.
When asked how soon the group could introduce it in India, Mahindra said, “As soon as (it is) feasible, we are looking at all the ways of doing it. We met with an incredibly warm response (from government officials), no cynicism whatsoever and willingness to work together to find the way.”
He said the popularity of electric kick scooter has spread like “wildfire” around the globe, largely in Europe and the US.
“I actually think this is going to work better in decongesting our cities with lanes and small lanes and alleys whether it’s Varanasi as a city or Chandni Chowk here,” he said.
This is a Syndicate News Feed