The ride undertaken as part of Electric Bharatmala, powered by partners at StartupNRev showcased the readiness of the country’s EV-associated infrastructure
Orxa Energies, a pioneer in electric mobility and battery solutions, has announced that The Mantis, their soon to be launched flagship all-electric motorcycle, has covered 13510 km in 54 days, crossing the previous record of 12,379 km by an electric motorcycle. This feat
was achieved as part of the Electric Bharatmala, an attempt for the world’s longest electric motorcycle ride, powered by 7 startups that came together to address the roadblocks associated with the adoption of electric mobility in India. This incredible ride began in Bengaluru on February 4, 2022 and traversed through 20 states and 2 Union Territories. The Mantis’ was ridden up the coast abutting the Bay of Bengal, grazing past the foothills of the mighty Himalayas, through the immense heat of the Thar desert and the Rann of Kutch, down the coast along the Arabian Sea, winding along the Western Ghats and finally reaching Bengaluru where the ride concluded.
The Electric Vehicle (EV) ecosystem has benefited from the Electric Bharatmala and the work of the collaborators. There are now 68 new Bolt charging points set up in 17 smaller cities like Forbesganj, Sangrur, Sitapur and Vapi. These points are now open to the public to charge their EVs which further facilitates the electric revolution to percolate into smaller cities and towns. EV charging stations
were also set up in the Northeast in Darjeeling, Dimapur, Cherapunji, Cooch Behar, and Guwahati contributing to the infrastructure required to propel the government’s ambition of mass scale shift to electric mobility soon.
“The Electric Bharatmala is one of the toughest challenges that we have undertaken at Orxa. The biggest validation has been that the Mantises performed as expected – and even exceeded our expectations in certain respects – in almost all the terrain and environments that India has to offer. Our vision of building a truly ‘Made In India’ and ‘Made For India’ electric high-performance motorcycle has been proven. The ride also gave us critical real-world data and in-depth insights on different terrains, climatic conditions, usage patterns and riding environments which will now help us fine-tune the Mantis before we enter final production this year,’’ says Dr. Prajwal Sabnis, Co-
Founder, Orxa Energies.
The team had the opportunity to engage, impart knowledge and narrate the success stories of these ‘Made In India’ startups to thousands of students from various universities, who were extremely curious about the future of EV tech and electric mobility in the country.
“The highlight of this Electric Bharatmala has been the collaborative work of startups to come together with a single-minded focus to make this a unique ride. The sustainability and cost benefits of EVs over ICE vehicles were also proven to several stakeholders. Due to the sustainable cost benefits of EV and making charge stations available even in the remotest of areas of the country will enable
India towards faster EV adoption’’ says Ranjita Ravi, Co-Founder of Orxa Energies.
“With the increasing adoption of Electric Vehicles, investing in a charging network will find significant utilization in the future. At BOLT, we are solving this challenge by partnering with EV ecosystem players to install the necessary EV infrastructure across states with a very affordable universal charging point that also allows charging point owners to make a passive income. We are really excited to achieve the milestone of installing 10,000 charging points across India and are on the path towards achieving our goal of installing over 1 million charging points over the next 2 years,” says Jyotiranjan Harichandan, Co-Founder of Bolt.
“When it comes to EV adoption, everyone talks only about range, performance and charging anxieties. Let me tell you, that service anxiety is very very real. And this was demonstrated by us on this EV BharatMala. From fixing broken parts to EV servicing and battery swaps, SpareIt ensured that the Mantis’s were ride-ready across 13510 kms through 54 days. SpareIt has the first mover the advantage in building India’s largest EV service network and has tied up with top EV OEMs and fleets to offer their trained garages network with charging points, as the preferred partner garages network in the country,’’ says Romi Chugh, Co-founder, SpareIt.
The ride is a testament to the capabilities of electric vehicles and should dispel all doubts regarding range, performance, reliability, servicing, and charging. The Orxa Mantis has demonstrated high levels of endurance on this ride by tackling steep hill inclines, highways, off-roads, mountainous terrains, extreme and challenging weather conditions, and took all of this in its stride.
About Orxa Energies:
Orxa Energies is a high-performance electric vehicle and energy systems startup based out of Bengaluru, India. Located in India’s de-facto EV innovation hub, Orxa has raised several rounds of external funding and has been exponentially growing its revenues since 2018. Orxa Energies aims to rapidly electrify all transport and is a step closer to achieving this goal through their fully electric performance vehicles and performance battery packs. Founded by Dr. Prajwal Sabnis and Ranjita Ravi in 2015, Orxa is on a mission to change the perception of EVs, with a future target of 500km and 1000km range electric motorcycles.
