It began with wanting to unravel a commuting drawback that prompted Pushkar Phatak to develop his personal e-bike and its design turned a dialog matter when he rode it to work. Many individuals who noticed his bike requested if he might additionally make one for them, and that was how Pushkar realised the potential of his e-bike. Collectively along with his school pal Amit Sondhit, they went on to determine an organization the place promoting these e-bikes turned their newfound ardour.
Forward, Amit shares with us extra about Watt Wagons, its bikes and the way they set a brand new Guiness World Report.
You might be primarily based in Boston, US. Inform us concerning the superb development of Watt Wagons e-Bikes.
Like loads of start-ups, we began out of a storage constructing bikes with our personal fingers. Over the course of three years, we’re a well-established model within the high-performance section. Now we have moved to an 8,000 sqft institution and employed workers to construct and repair electrical bikes. Now we have additionally began a 5-star rated e-bike service firm “ebike.rehab” to “heal” electrical bikes, construct relationships, upsell, and additional the fervour for using. Now we have been worthwhile for 2 years now and are engaged on new applied sciences that shall be sport changers within the rider ecosystem. Ranging from one product, we now have a portfolio of various bikes catering to all types of use circumstances. We’re multiplying final yr’s gross sales!
How did the thought of manufacturing luxurious e-bikes come to Pushkar Phatak, the founding father of the corporate?
Pushkar constructed his first e-bike to unravel his commuting drawback. He realised he was onto one thing when somebody at a visitors cease requested him about his bike and whether or not he might construct the identical for them. Toying round with concepts, he simply noticed that whereas there have been so many merchandise available in the market, there have been hardly any that certified as dependable, critical or, in some circumstances, simply plain useful. He went to the whiteboard and out got here some extremely profitable works of pure engineering!
He based Watt Wagons and obtained engaged on securing design and vendor relationships after getting nice suggestions from loads of lovers! He went for the holy grail to show the reliability of Watt Wagons — a Guinness World Report! In fact, together with kudos, it resulted in lots of issues to work on to broaden Watt Wagons.
I’ve been Pushkar’s pal since undergrad, and had been working with him on a bunch of different issues, together with one other firm, after we determined to collaborate and take Watt Wagons to the following degree. The corporate moved to a a lot greater workshop from a storage and out got here the brand new state-of-the-art merchandise, new web site and model technique, NHL participant endorsements and media protection.
Are you able to identify a number of of the early backers of Watt Wagons?
Watt Wagons is organically funded by us however we might be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge among the early backers who put their religion in us and positioned orders for among the finest e-bikes on the planet. There have been loads of our loyal prospects who believed in us from the start and ordered primarily based on our superior ideas. Their orders helped us construct our basis and helped in scaling up.
What are the important thing propositions of Watt Wagons e-bikes? How revolutionary and “clever” is the engineering behind these bikes?
We give attention to defining the expertise of the longer term. After we began, we had been the primary to introduce excessive powered titanium commuter e-bike with belt drive, the one which we used to set a brand new Guinness World Report. The following era of our e-bikes boasts ultra-light carbon fibre frames with top-of-the-line elements and full suspension functionality. We even supply inside gear hubs to cut back upkeep. We modify the motors with our superior controllers to make them extra dependable, environment friendly and enjoyable. Our newest product, the Hound, is the one journey e-bike platform that gives onboard charging — you should use an EV charging station identical to your electrical automobile!
In the summertime of 2019, Watt Wagons travelled to Halifax with rider Ravi Kempaiah to set a brand new Guinness world document. Are you able to inform us extra there?
In the summertime of 2019, Watt Wagons travelled to Halifax NS with rider Ravi Kempaiah to set a brand new Guinness world document on the Final Commuter Professional e-Bike (Now Helios). Our e-bike accomplished 400 miles in 24 hours utilizing below a greenback of electrical energy. We had been flagged off by Prof. Dahn, head of battery analysis for Tesla. We had been lined on Canadian and US information channels.
You might be bullish concerning the development of the e-bike market, which numbers and analysis papers do you may have available which maintain your imaginative and prescient?
We sometimes observe analysis papers from completely different consulting/knowledge organisations (like McKinsey and Forbes) and on-line information from completely different retailers (like Electrek) which can be targeted on electrical automobiles typically.
How do you outline sustainability? How revolutionary is your imaginative and prescient and the measurement instruments you may have put in place there?
Our seriousness about sustainability is what led us right here to start with. We wish to remodel commuting by way of extra environmentally sustainable options wherever potential. Our imaginative and prescient is to exchange a serious a part of car visitors with a extra sustainable and more healthy various. Due to this fact, we targeted on constructing merchandise which can be dependable for hundreds of miles and want minimal upkeep to create true automotive-grade replacements for fuel automobiles. Each mile ridden on our e-bike is greener and cheaper than conventional fuel transportation. Moreover, we’re additionally one of many largest recyclers in our metropolis and interact with the native governments to help with the messaging, merchandise and driving change.
Watt Wagons has been a worthwhile firm for the previous three years. Are you aiming for an IPO quickly? The place do you see the corporate in 5 yr time?
We consider we’ve got some methods to go earlier than we think about an IPO. There are particular merchandise in our pipeline that we wish to see to fruition earlier than we resolve to go public. We recognise that we’re nonetheless a smaller participant and wish to set up ourselves because the de facto leaders in our area with a broader gamut of merchandise earlier than going public.
The place ought to our LUXUO readers go to purchase a Watt Wagons e-bike? Who’re your resellers? Do you additionally promote on-line?
We ship worldwide and have lately began onboarding sellers as effectively. LUXUO readers should buy our merchandise on-line and be a part of our different prospects from 25+ nations. If , they will additionally contact us to develop into resellers.