Delhi-based all-electric taxi service company Evera has started onboarding electric vehicles (EVs) leased to it by the lenders of BluSmart, including non-banking finance companies and banks, which repossessed the vehicles following the suspension of operations at the ride-hailing platform last month. According to Evera’s cofounder and chief executive Nimish Trivedi, the move is aimed at strengthening the company’s airport fleet in the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment across terminals in Delhi. The fleet has largely operated in the business-to-business (B2B) segment until now with around 450 taxis.
The company has so far onboarded 220 vehicles and plans to add the rest in the coming days. It plans to eventually add a total of 1,000 BluSmart taxis to its fleet.
The development follows action by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which barred BluSmart cofounders Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi from accessing the securities markets and holding board positions over allegations of fund siphoning and document forgery in their solar engineering, procurement and construction firm Gensol Engineering, which is closely linked to BluSmart.
“The sentiment has definitely been shaken, but there’s still a strong market with the potential to deliver good numbers… We are continuing to strengthen our airport operations, and depending on how many cars we are able to deploy, we’ll explore further opportunities. Since we have a larger skew on the B2B side, we’ll also strengthen that part,” Trivedi told ET.
Evera serves both B2C and B2B segments, with most of its B2C customers coming from the airport category, while its B2B clients are primarily corporates seeking a pickup and drop-off facility for their employees.
In the first phase, these EVs will be redeployed, particularly in and around Indira Gandhi International Airport. Evera partnered with Delhi International Airport Ltd in 2022 to start its EV taxi services at the airport’s Terminal 3. The startup is also in the process of closing a funding round, Trivedi said, without disclosing further details. Evera last raised $7 million from investors led by Germany’s IEG Investment Banking Group in 2023.
According to the firm, around 150 former BluSmart driver partners have joined Evera after being left without any formal communication from BluSmart following the suspension of its operations.
“We will be adding another 150 to 200 driver partners immediately, depending on the fleet we have and how much more we are able to secure from other lenders,” Trivedi said.
On Sunday, hundreds of BluSmart driver partners began protests across Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), demanding compensation and alternative employment. More than 10,000 drivers across Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai are estimated to be affected.
