OSM inks mobility deal with Porter

Faridabad-based Omega Seiki Mobility (OSM) has inked a pact with intra-city logistics marketplace provider Porter to deploy 250 units of its Range plus, fixed, swap, and fast charging electric three-wheelers as part of mobility-as-a-service (MAAS) MOU signed by both entities on Tuesday in New Delhi.

As part of their arrangement, the vehicle, maintenance, and the driver  will be provided by OSM and Porter will pay the automaker a fixed rate to cover the cost of operations.

Uday Narang, Founder of OSM speaking to Autocar Professional said its partnership with Porter will see a dedicated production line established that will ramp up production from 200 to 5000 units by end-December 2023.

"We have a strong order book from Porter where we are looking for a 30-40% MOM(month on month) increase in deployment of electric three-wheelers for last-mile delivery for Porter " he added.

OSM which has twin facilities currently in Faridabad has recently added one more plant in Chakan in Maharashtra, and later in Vizag to add to its South footprint  to meet the rush of orders from the e-commerce players.

The Rage + electric three-wheelers will be primarily deployed in the swappable category with Sun Mobility to invest in swapping infrastructure at Porter Locations starting from the Delhi NCR region and later scaled up to other markets. Sun Mobility has inked a similar alliance with Amazon India warehouses across cities such as Ahmedabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. 

Narang said that depending on the location and need assessment made by Porter, OSM will be deploying all three kinds of vehicles.

"From our discussions with Porter and Sun, we have figured that the swappable cost batteries are the lowest as compared to fixed and fast charging and Sun Mobility has committed to making the investment to establish a dedicated infrastructure for Porter," he said.

The Porter management team added that it is also talking to other OEMs basis the strong need  to reduce the TCO  and the MAAS model having a huge cost  advantage  upside." As the demand for the last mile is outstripping the supply we are also in talks with other OEMs for the ICE to EV Shift for Porter. However, we are confident that OSM will be our preferred partner in this journey," said Manish Gupta, Vice-President Porter.