What are Narain Karthikeyan's Plans For The EV Sector? Narain Karthikeyan, India's first Formula One race driver and the Founder and CEO of DriveX, recently had some interesting inputs regarding the rapid rise of the EV sector.
By Kabir Singh Bhandari •
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Narain Karthikeyan, India's first Formula One race driver and the Founder and CEO of DriveX, recently had some interesting inputs regarding the rapid rise of the EV sector. Karthikeyan's company, DriveX, is an end-to-end affordable mobility platform founded by him and Christopher Sargunam. They aim to provide a hassle-free vehicle ownership experience by providing buyers with access to impeccably maintained two-wheelers.
The rapid rise of the EV sector is regularly in the news, with EVs being considered the future of the mobility space. According to data recently released by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles, in India, the sale of two-wheelers rose over two-and-half fold over the previous fiscal year to 8,46,976 units in 2022–23.
Speaking on DriveX's plans in the EV sector, Karthikeyan had said, "The biggest pain point is that technology is evolving and the price point, especially for two-wheelers, the affordability, and the entire lifecycle. The customers are not sure what the residual value could/would be. It is changing on an everyday basis, and the whole world is moving towards electrification. This is something that is going to keep evolving, like battery technology. We are first in the country to have repowering centres, wherein pre-owned electric two-wheelers are re-powered and then sent back to the platform, so the price point is much lower."
Karthikeyan's company had started inn April 2020 as a two-wheeler subscription platform, providing affordable and flexible mobility solutions, and has since expanded to five cities. Recently at an event when we had interacted with him on the sidelines, he also spoke to us about how F1 had given him a lot of exposure and it was but natural for him to do something in the space, which is what led to DriveX. He also opened up about his fondness for the Fast And Furious movie series saying that he found them very entertaining series. "Of course, it never happens in India, which is a very good thing. They've been around for a while and I'm one of their many fans," he said.
