An e-bike venture that caught Ratan Tata's eye

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Last updated on: August 07, 2015 10:59 IST

Hemlatha Annamalai and P Bala's Ampere Vehicles makes e-vehicles in Coimbatore. Do they have a strong business case?

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, is a venerable name in the world of startups and angel investors.

He has invested in a string of e-commerce startups and one automobile company: Coimbatore-based Ampere Vehicles, the maker of electric two- and three-wheelers.
The company's factory is in the midst of a coconut farm, away from downtown Coimbatore.

The entrance is guarded not by an electronically-controlled barricade, but by a hand-operated wooden barrier, which a middle-aged guard lifts by untying a knot from a coconut tree.

Image: Hemlatha Annamalai, Ampere's CEO. Photograph, Courtesy: Ampere

 

 

Inside, all is quiet: there's no deafening noise of machines. Hemlatha Annamalai, Ampere's CEO, dressed in dark blue trousers and a blue shirt, sits on a sofa from where she can see the verdant coconut trees.
Annamalai, who belongs to Chennai and studied at the Government College of Technology at Coimbatore, moved to Singapore after her marriage to P Bala when she was 27 and became an entrepreneur.

The idea to work on e-vehicles took root in 2007, when at a conference she heard a Toyota executive saying that the time for internal combustion engines was over.
She and Bala got thinking: if China could sell about 30 million e-vehicles (annually back then), then why not India?

Later, at the international mobility forum in Switzerland, she got a better perspective about e-engines. "I didn't just jump into this business; I did a lot of research and homework," says Annamalai.
In 2008, the couple sold their $1.8-million apartment in Singapore and moved to Coimbatore with their two school-going daughters to set up Ampere. (The name came from Andre-Marie Ampere who theorised the science of classical electromagnetism.)
Bala is an engineer but neither Annamalai nor he had tried to build or sell an e-vehicle before this. They were entering a tricky area.

Some big original equipment manufacturers had tried e-bikes, but those were not doing well. Ampere was foraying into a market where the technology, product and concept were all new.
Annamalai recollects that in 2010, when they were trying to raise money, financiers not only turned them away but also openly discouraged them. "They disqualified us," she says.
The couple slogged on, researching and trying to master the technology and the algorithms. Then, Forum Synergies and Spain's Axon Capital jointly invested around Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) in Ampere.

Next came Tata's investment. "This is not only an endorsement for the company but also for the entire electric vehicle industry," says Annamalai.
Expansion plans
The company now wants to mobilise around Rs 20 crore to scale up operations, hire talent and invest in research and development. The idea is to make the products 100 per cent indigenous, compared to 75 per cent currently.
The business case for e-vehicles looks strong: sales have grown at a fast clip, albeit from a low base.

According to the Society of Manufactures of Electrical Vehicles, sales increased 25 per cent to about 5,000 in the June-ended quarter from the year-ago quarter. "Government subsidies that benefit consumers directly triggered the sales," says Sohinder Gill, director (corporate affairs), SMEV.

Under its Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles scheme, the central government will also assist e-vehicle manufacturers with Rs 795 crore (Rs 7.95 billion) till 2020 to help them create infrastructure and R&D facilities.
But the success of e-vehicles will depend on their price tags. At the end of the day, the total cost of ownership should work out favourably for the buyer.

Ampere's e-cycle costs around Rs 23,500, and its e-scooter is priced at Rs 40,000-45,000. This is Rs 7,000-8,000 costlier than its competitors.

The company says this is because its two-wheelers come with a 60-volt battery and hence perform better, while others run on 40 volts. A dealer with a rival electric vehicle firm, however, argues that the performance is pretty much the same.
Ampere's customers are farmers and small-time businessmen who use these vehicles to transport their produce to the local markets.

Business to Business (B2B) customers, largely mill-owners in and around Coimbatore, also use its vehicles. Recently, corporations too have started using the vehicles to collect garbage.
User testimonials
P Venkatachalam, a farmer from Pollachi (45 km from Coimbatore) who bought an Ampere e-cycle about one-and-a-half years ago, says the experience was "satisfactory"; so, he's now bought Ampere's e-scooter called the V60. Venkatachalam drives the scooter for nearly 50 km in a day, and says it costs him around Rs 5 to charge the battery.
But given the long power cuts, isn't it difficult to regularly charge the battery? "Not really," Vankatachalam says, "Besides, the cycle's battery, which comes with a one-year guarantee, helps when the power goes off. A small tube light and a fan can run on it for a few hours."
Once charged, the e-cycle can run up to 45 km and the e-scooter to 60 km, he says. The vehicles can carry a load of up to 150 kg at a speed of 40 km per hour.
The battery needs 6 to 7 hours and about 1.8 units of power to be fully charged, says Kalimuthu, who is in charge of Ampere's dispatch department.
If maintained well, it can last for about three years during which it can be charged 750 times. Though a new battery costs Rs 15,000, in three years an e-vehicle proves to be still cheaper than a petrol or diesel version, says Kalimuthu.
Currently the company has 47 dealers across southern states and hopes to add another 20 in the next two months. It has a presence in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka and will soon expend operations to Andhra Pradesh, and intends to operate only in South India.

Recently, it received its first export order for e-trolleys capable of carrying a load of 600 kg.
But it's still a while before e-vehicles become popular. Annamalai says that will happen only once volume picks up and bank financing to customers becomes easier. She says it will be another two to three years, at least, before the company will start making profits.

1956: A 5MB hard drive being loaded onto a PanAm plane.

How skin cancer leapt after bikinis hit the beaches

How skin cancer leapt after bikinis hit the beaches: Rate went up 400% between the 1930s and 1960s

• Twenties swimwear exposed around 20 per cent of men and women's skin
• Skimpy outfits meant rise to 80 per cent for women and 89 per cent for men
• Modern-day bikinis expose 92 per cent of women's skin to harmful UV rays
• Cases of deadliest skin cancer rose from 1,800 in 1975 to 13,000 today

By Daniel Bates In New York

Published: 00:09 GMT, 8 October 2014 | Updated: 01:44 GMT, 8 October 2014

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In the 1920s the amount of women's skin exposed in swimwear was 20 per cent, but after Louis Reard invented the bikini (pictured) that went to 80 per cent

The bikini could be to blame for increasing rates of skin cancer, researchers have concluded after analysing 100 years of beachwear.

Skimpy swimming costumes which became fashionable in the 1940s exposed more of the body to sunlight than ever before.

And with that greater exposure came a greater risk of melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer.

The study found that even taking into account increasingly early diagnosis and wider reporting of cancer, changing tastes in clothing must have played their part too.

The team from New York University’s Langone Medical Centre said that in the early 1900s tanned skin was frowned upon as being working class - and porcelain skin was prized.

In the 1920s men’s and women’s swimwear was very conservative and exposed around 23 per cent and 18 per cent of the total skin surface area respectively.

That all changed in 1946 when French designer Louis Reard invented the bikini which was quickly adopted in the US and then the rest of the world.

But it increased skin exposure in women to 80 per cent as most of their body was open to the elements.

Men’s skin exposure also went up to 89 per cent as the swimming top was replaced by a bare chest and shorts.

The study says: ‘People also began to enjoy more leisure time and to favour swimwear and sportswear that progressively covered less skin.

‘Voices that raised concern about the dangers of UV exposure were largely ignored.’

The study points to actresses like Bond Girl Ursula Andress as popularising the tan which became associated with notions of ‘sexy, young, healthy, and wealthy women’.

Yet from the 1930s to the 1960s US cancer rates in men and women increased by 69 per cent and 18 per cent.

Melanoma incidence went up by more than 300 per cent in men and 400 per cent in women.

The study says: ‘This increase in melanoma incidence occurred in parallel with changes in fashion, travel, and leisure that resulted in increased skin and UV exposure.’

The authors add that in more recent years the rising use of tanning salons has increased the rise in melanoma rates further.

The study found that in recent years the bikini has become even more skimpy and even more damaging to women.

With the emergence of ‘strapless tops and low-rise bottoms’ it now has a 92 per cent skin exposure, more than men who have stayed at 89 per cent.

The researchers lay the blame for the popularity of tanning at the door of women’s magazines and due to ‘celebrity promotion’ during the last century.

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Modern designs have increased the amount of skin exposed to nearly 92 per cent. Cases of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, have risen to 13,000 a year from 1,800 in 1975

In Britain figures from Cancer Research UK show that more than 13,000 people a year develop malignant melanoma - the most deadly type of skin cancer.

The total is expected to surge to 20,000 a year by 2027. In 1975 the figure was just 1,800.

The shocking rise has been blamed on the legacy of sunshine package holidays which became popular in the 1960s.

Many of the patients being diagnosed today suffered cancer-causing sunburn in their youth, experts have said.

Adding to the problem was in the 1960s - often dubbed the ‘Bronze Age’ - few people were aware of the dangers of sunbathing in the way they are now, meaning they unknowingly caused themselves long term damage.

Since then the majority have shied away from a deep tan popularised by the likes of George Hamilton including many celebrities, for whom a healthy glow is considered enough. 

Among those who were have been treated for skin cancer in the UK is Tiny De Vries, a 63-year-old businesswoman and author from Bath.

She regularly went bright red after tanning all day on cheap package holidays to Spain during the 1960s and 70s.

In an interview she has said: ‘I’m far more cautious these days, but 40 years ago no one knew any better. How I wished I’d been more aware of the dangers before it was too late.’ 

How to spot the signs of skin cancer and stay safe in the sun

The History Man, Saumur, France, 9 months ago

This is a correlation but not necessarily a causal link.

 Two other things that have changed since the 1920s is that people as a whole have far more leisure time and actually take holidays in the sun and on the beach.

 The average worker in the 1930s couldn't afford to do more than go to Margate or Weston on the train for a weekend.

 The other thing that has changed is the erosion of the ozone layer, not just from CFCs but from all the other pollutants and chemicals we have increasingly poured into the atmosphere in the second half of the 20th century.

 This has allowed far more UV to pass through to affect people, animals and plants, and the ozone layer is only now showing some very small signs of recovery. Many agricultural workers always used to do the harvest stripped to the waist but is there evidence of their rates of skin cancer?