A Corporate leader, serial entrepreneur, sales professional, networker, and EV Evangelist with 23+ years' experience, has worked in multiple roles related to Channel Sales, Business Development, Product Sales, and Key Account Management.

Today, the Hyderabad based company manufactures custom made electric vehicles, majorly load up vehicles like delivery and on-wheel markets. Very recently, it tied-up with the Telangana State Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Limited and leading e-commerce companies for doorstep delivery vehicles.

Having made up his mind to quit a successful corporate career and start a venture of his own in the field of Electric vehicles, Devender Reddy travelled across several districts in Telangana to understand the requirements of the customers. After months of first-hand research, the idea of beginning a company that would boost livelihood opportunities, especially for women, led to the creation of E-Ride in 2019.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people's purchase behaviour has changed. There has been a surge in the demand for doorstep delivery service. A lot of people now prefer ordering online rather than going out and shopping. So there has been an increase in demand for delivery vehicles all across the country.

Keeping this trend in mind, E-Ride manufactures delivery vehicles that are a source of income based on Driver cum Owner module. Apart from being affordable to buy, these vehicles have a minimal maintenance and operational cost. The per kilometre cost for these vehicles are 0.30 to 0.40 paise. While the average earnings for a rider could be somewhere around Rs. 22,000 per month, there have been cases during the pandemic when the riders have earned even more than that. Due to the option of customisation and superior customer service, various categories have opened up in terms of applications for different industry segments. E-Ride made customized vehicles for Dairy on Wheels, Vegetables on wheels, Meat on Wheels, Tea on Wheels, Groceries on Wheels and is even coming up with Library on Wheels.

E-Ride understands the challenges of early adopters of technology and is offering Annual maintenance contract not only for own EV but also for different makes to support these early adopters.

With the idea of social empowerment with EV gradually coming to fruition, Devender now aims to expand it to all of India and to SAARC nations.

She-Rickshaws
While the customised vehicles are helping individuals earn, the dream project for E-Ride is of `She-Rickshaws' which is soon coming on road. These rickshaws have been especially designed keeping the inputs from women drivers in mind. Women make up almost half the world's population, yet their social participation is way lower than that of men.

Realizing the role of private companies in bringing about this transformation through solutions that empower women, E-Ride is set to lead this change. For She-Rickshaws, women would be taught to drive the vehicles and they would also be given training on service level maintenance of the vehicles and those on self-defense.

With increasing awareness among people towards the environment and sustainability, the future of E-Ride looks very bright. Social entrepreneurship, especially those working towards empowering women, are the hope for a better tomorrow. Let us together build a greener, equitable tomorrow!