NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, JAN 30
City-based technology start-up Matter announced that it would be launching electric vehicles – MatterMobility- and a range of energy solutions in India starting FY 2021. The company will be entering key Indian cities, including New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Lucknow and Chandigarh in stages with these differentiated offerings, a senior official of the company said.
Since its inception in January 2019, Matter has extensively invested in R&D for the development of platforms for Electric Vehicles and Storage Solutions technology in stealth mode. Matter is focused on building the largest electric vehicle ecosystem in India with the help of well-known industry professionals hired over the last 2 years. Collectively, this star team of experienced professionals has over 100 years of experience in the EV domain. Matter’s current people strength stands at 100, all of whom are based in Ahmedabad and have been recruited from the IITs, IISC, IIM-A, and other regional engineering colleges.
Announcing these plans, Mohal Lalbhai, Founder and CEO, Matter said, “The focus of Matter through design & engineering will be to create products and services well suited for the Indian user. We have set a target of US$ 1 billion top line by 2025. Our vehicles are well aligned with India’s strong demand for clean mobility and Matter will be manufacturing these motorcycles at its local plant in Ahmedabad before mass distribution across the country.”
Matter is led by CEO, Mohal Lalbhai of the Lalbhai family in Gujarat and COO, Arun Pratap Singh, an IIT-K and IIM-A alumnus and former head of YObykes.
Specific to its range of EVs, Matter has designed and will manufacture electric motorcycles for the Indian market. All the powertrain components for Matter’s products have been designed by its team and sourced locally. Matter’s range of motorcycles will be in the mass-premium category and will promise a unique user experience that incorporates best-in-class approaches to performance, safety, and production standards.
Matter will manufacture its electric motorcycles at its plant in Ahmedabad with an initial production capacity of 60,000 units per annum that will subsequently be scaled up. The launch is intended for Q4 2021 and the motorcycles will be applicable for FAME II subsidies. Matter is also producing its battery packs for inhouse consumption and will also supply these to customers in non-compete EV segments and storage applications.
Specifically with regards to energy solutions, Matter will offer both consumers and enterprise clients a range of energy storage products and solutions including large scale energy storage applications such as solar home lighting systems, home inverters, UPS systems as well as non-compete EV products such as battery packs. The products have been designed by an in-house team of researchers and engineers and will also be manufactured by Matter.
Matter will begin retail operations by April 2021 through two distribution channels (B2B and B2C). Initially, this will be for its energy solutions (called MatterEnergy) and subsequently for its range of electric vehicles (MatterMobility) in Q4 2021. In terms of distribution, Matter will enter key Indian markets starting with the west, followed by north, south, and east through its signature experience centres and later through dealerships across tier 1, 2, and 3 cities.
