Enterprising youth turn to green tech for personal mobility

Nappinnai is the brainchild of Naidhroven A, an MBA graduate from Anna University, who put together a team inspired by his vision, at the beginning of this year. Nappinnai (P) Ltd owns the brand Scotra CML. Speaking to DTNext, Satish Kumar R, the COO of the company, tells us, “Our company was born as a necessity, but it has now evolved into a consumer-oriented business. The initial seeds were sown in December 2010. Since then, we spent over half a decade in building prototypes and conducting market analysis.” 

Giving us a lowdown on the technology that went into creating the BOV, Satish says, “Scotra CML is an energy efficient vehicle and it costs just Re 1 to travel up to 100 km. We wanted to educate the public about the need of clean and green personal mobility. So we included frequently accessed tools like a speedometer, odometer and a counter for total distance travelled.” 

Elaborating on the USP of the BOV, Satish says, “The Scotra CML can be driven on any flat surface. It cannot be driven in mud and s l u d g y roads. It is apt for use in low-traffic areas and we see great potential for our product in gated communities, housing colonies, resorts and luxury properties.  We plan to manufacture 20 units/week until the year end. As of now, we are concentrating on selling bulk units to business and industries. We are targeting sales of 5,000 units by Dec 2017.” 

The team received Rs 10 lakh from the Central Government under the PMGEP scheme which helped them transform the idea into a prototype. Investment-wise, Nappinnai is a bootstrapped company with a family investment of Rs 15 lakh. “As it is a manufacturing company the capital investment is high and we are on the lookout for potential investors. Manufacturing parts of the product has been outsourced to a few SMEs and the vehicles are assembled in-house. The availability of limited suppliers has been a challenge for the team,” shares Satish.