Why did we Back Cell Propulsion?
(Electric-mobility technology company focused on large scale electrification of commercial vehicle fleets)
Founded Year: 2016
Website: https://cellpropulsion.com/home.htmlÂ
Founders: Nakul Kukar, Paras Kaushal
Raised: $4M
Backers: Huddle, GrowX Ventures, Endiya Partners
About Cell Propulsion
Cell Propulsion (CP) aims to redefine the sustainable mobility of goods, by building connected technologies and solutions which transform the utilization and deployment of commercial vehicles.
The core efforts of the team are across the design and development of electric and connected mobility solutions for goods transportation:
Production of eLCV and eHCV platforms
Enabling connectivity for eCVs with integrated vehicle intelligence platforms
Developing charging infrastructure and energy management services for eCVs
Provide fully integrated services and solutions to accelerate the adoption of eCVs (including O&M support, financing, training, etc.)
Electrification and digitization of commercial vehicles are inevitable due to increasing fuel costs and increasing environmental concerns. Besides, CVs have the highest asset utilization of any vehicle segment and hence offer a strong economic incentive to fleet owners to transition to electric.
Cell Propulsion is focused on a niche space (eLCVs and eHCVs) with strong internal resources having relevant experience in developing complex engineering products. With a vertically integrated approach, they are able to build proprietary technologies to become the one-stop vendor for select large-scale clients.
All logistics and transportation companies believe in the value proposition of eCVs but typically face bottlenecks in adoption due to the availability of vehicles, charging support, vehicle O&M and operating know-how. Cell Propulsion is working to solve the majority of these problems by developing custom eCVs and full-stack mobility solutions to enable large-scale adoption.
The opportunity at hand
A few primary factors indicating the right timing of this opportunity:
Encouraging government and policy support with FAME initiatives heavily focused on the CV sector
Rising awareness about environmental issues with commitments by large corporations to transition to electric mobility
Maturity of energy storage & EV technology to enable the development and production of eCVs whose performance is at par with ICE CVs
TCO parity with ICE vehicles for CVs has already been achieved and hence transitioning to electric is now economically viable.
Electrification of CVs is an annual 50 billion USD opportunity in India by 2030
Why Huddle Invested in Cell Propulsion
Given our active involvement with the team during the acceleration process at Huddle, we have witnessed the stable development of a differentiated product, positive inclination from the eCommerce/logistics giants towards adoption, and the aggressive growth mindset of a capable team.
As a primary sector outlook, CVs have the highest asset utilization of any vehicle segment and hence offer a strong economic incentive to fleet owners to transition to electric. Looking at the product journey, we are confident in the team’s capabilities of developing complex engineering products, while they now also build a deeper understanding by active on-ground deployments with Amazon and BMTC. With an active outlook on the needs of the end client, the team is clear about building a full-stack solution which has been well defined as a mandatory need from the industry, which is a major differentiation in this ecosystem.
The above factors are validated on the account of positive commercial interest from industry giants including Amazon, Bluedart, Delhivery, Varun Beverages, plus a few others. Given the potential demand from the current set of active potential clients is 10,000 eLCVs over the next 5 years, indicates the tremendous opportunity across servicing these high-growth sectors.
In addition, the primary macro indicators including - $50B market opportunity for CVs in India, positive government incentives towards adoption, and the growth of the primary focus segments of logistics and eCommerce add value to the overall sentiment of the growth potential for Cell Propulsion.
Team Spotlight
The founders, Nakul, Paras, and Supratim have worked together in ISRO for 6 years prior to building CP.
Nakul Kukar - 7 years experience with rocket engine and electric aircraft design & development 4+ years experience in CV space
Paras Kaushal - 6 years experience with rocket engine ignition systems, spacecraft thermal & energy storage systems 4+ years experience in CV space
Supratim Naskar - 7 years experience with launch vehicle structures, spacecraft mechanisms & space robotics 4+ years experience in CV space
Read More:
That's all for today! A call out if you are a founder building in the Mobility & Transport space, you can reach us at connect@huddle.work and we look forward to brainstorming with you. If you are an enabler and investor and would like a further look into our ecosystem, then we are happy to dive deep into these sectors alongside you.
