iGo Wise: Re-Thinking Vehicle Design to Bring EVs to Everyone

Anyone who has ever sat in a Bangalore cab stuck in traffic, watching the 2 wheelers wizz by surely appreciates the value of smaller form factors. Not only do smaller vehicles move much faster, but they have a much lower environmental footprint in both production and fuel consumption (whether it is petrol, gas or electric). However, 2 wheelers face severe limits both in terms of space as well as safety. Today's start-up, iGo Wise, is cutting through these trade-offs with an innovative "trike" that combines the stability, space and comfort of a 3 wheeler with the maneuverability and footprint of a 2 wheeler.

iGo’s founding team got started building fully autonomous tram pods (think like between airport terminals), with a grant from NITI Aayog, but during covid that project was put on hold. The team showed incredible resilience and market insight by pivoting to their trike, which took advantage of the capabilities/learnings they had developed for creating stability. The stabilizing features mean that the trike can self-stabilize on-demand, making it the perfect fit for delivery riders reducing their fatigue on knees & shoulders with heavy loads.

Despite costing ~7k/month to operate, only marginally more than 2 wheelers, they can carry much larger loads (120-200 kg), which means they can displace smaller trucks (eg. tempos) for medium-sized delivery cargos (think Amazon, BigBasket, etc.). This smaller footprint also means lower energy consumption, further improving the economics (and environmental impact) of the end user.

iGo is also a great example of not having to compromise on environmentally-conscious products. They have a dual motor in the two back wheels, which provide incredible torque for it's rated power (as I can personally attest). In fact, they actually had to reduce the sensitivity of the torque as drivers used to regular 2 wheelers were accelerating too quickly! It also has an "auto-summoning" feature which can self-drive to pick up the rider.

The model built for delivery riders can also optionally detach the back carriage (as seen in the picture above) to provide room for a family. Particularly in Tier 2+, having a dual use vehicle (goods carriage during the day, riding with family in the evening) creates incredible value. The larger form factor makes it safer for additional riders without impacting maneuverability as well as accommodating larger LMFP batteries which can last longer and handle extreme Indian weather conditions.

As shown in the next picture, this platform is suitable for a number of different form factors. For example, bike taxis which have the same maneuverability as a 2W, but with more separation/coverage for rider comfort (think like a businessperson commuting who may not feel comfortable being smushed up against the driver).

In general, it is companies like iGo Wise that make me super excited about the Indian startup ecosystem. Beyond just incremental improvements to existing technology (though these are also important), the Indian Climatetech Ecosystem is starting to think up genuinely new solutions, to real problems, especially in emerging markets. iGo has patented the design, but is open to licensing the technology to other OEMs within India and across the Global South. I am so thrilled to see more companies like iGo Wise (and Planet Electric and many more) continue to develop innovative solutions starting with India, but ultimately for the world.