Electric tractor maker Cellestial E-Mobility gets $200K angel funding

Hyderabad-based electric tractor startup Cellestial E-Mobility has raised $200,000 (Rs 1.37 crore at the current exchange rate) from Singapore-based angel investor Meka Sudhakar Reddy. 

“We are readying to roll out the first prototype in the next one month,” Siddhartha Durairajan, founder promoter of Cellestial E-Mobility, said in an official statement today.

The zero-emission tractor can be used for horticultural or greenhouse works, moving goods within factories and vehicles and haul luggage in airports, the statement said. 

Founded by Durairajan in May this year, Cellestial E-Mobility has a capacity to build 100 e-mobility heavy vehicles. The company plans to increase volume if sales increase, the statement added.

Developments in EV market

The budget for 2019-20 presented recently by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a few initiatives that has come as a shot in the arm for the sector.

Some of the announcements include plan to reduce goods and services tax (GST) on EVs, Rs 10,000 crore allocation for the fast adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles through charging infrastructures and other appropriate incentives and income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans taken to buy electric vehicles.

New Delhi-based electric vehicle startup SmartE raised Series B funding of Rs. 100 crore (around $15 million then) from Japanese conglomerate  Mitsui & Co. this week.

Wickedride Adventure Services Pvt. Ltd., the Bengaluru-based company that operates dockless urban mobility platform Bounce, said that it is lining up a big push in the EV market. The company’s EV subsidiary, Zunik Smart Mobility Solutions, is in talks to raise up to $50 million (Rs 354 crore).

Jaipur-based smart electric scooter startup BattRE raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its angel round from ex-Tata Motors’ human resources chief Gajendra Chandel.

Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd, a unit of ride-hailing platform Ola, raised $250 million (Rs.1,725 crore then) from SoftBank. 

E-commerce marketplace Flipkart plans to introduce electric vehicles for its last-mile deliveries, in a phased manner. Flipkart aims to replace nearly 40% of its existing last-mile fleet of delivery vans with electric vehicles by March 2020, starting with deploying about 160 electric vans across cities by the end of 2019.