Electric Taxis
Do they have a future
A few days ago I had posted about Gensol and Puneet Goyal. Puneet reached out today to correct a few misunderstandings. First he mentioned that Gensol was not a shareholder in Bluesmart. Nor was Bluesmart a shareholder of Gensol. According to him, he has no concern with Gensol. My post that he refers to is below:
Puneet has also shared a pdf on his own entrepreneurial journey which actually is an interesting document. I am posting this document below.
It is my personal view that shared electric public transportation has a great future. The reason is the low running cost of the vehicle vis a vis fossil fuels. The second reason is the simplicity of manufacturing and maintaining these vehicles. Third is the expected lifespan of the vehicles.
However, it is not just the electrification of the vehicle but the ability to use ai to dynamically route it which is the game changer.
Public transportation has to be reliable, comfortable and affordable. The least cost option is a small bus offering a shared uber kind of service.
The classic travelling salesman problem is a np hard problem. It has been solved only this year thanks to developments in ai and the ability to change the constraints. We no longer solve it for least distance but for maximum convenience. As people shift to public transportation, road congestion will go down. This will allow for a higher average speed and thus larger number of passenger trips daily per seat per vehicle.
The big challenge is to shift the mindset from the perceived luxury of a chauffeur driven private car to an autonomous shared vehicle. This needs a change in consumer behaviour. And the easiest way to achieve this is to offer public transportation free to consumers who are above say 40 years of age. One will need to figure out a suitable business model to achieve it. But whatever you do, a viability gap will need to be covered. And that needs some kind of non profit backing.
The real reason for the demise of blue smart was probably the lack of viability gap funding. Without that the transition will not happen.
And that is where platforms like the Go Mobility platform can play a role. But they will need young hungry entrepreneurs like Puneet Goyal on the ground. Finally money alone can’t solve most problems. Someone has to work on the ground.