AI is Helping FuelBuddy Acquire and Retain Customers: Sunil Maddala

FuelBuddy is piloting newer energy solutions including battery integration and solar as it looks to expand beyond conventional fuel supply. Its current operations, however, remain anchored in doorstep delivery and management of high-speed diesel across commercial and infrastructure use cases.

“We are trying to move away from being a service provider who just provides diesel to a service provider who provides a power solution,” Sunil Maddala, CEO India, FuelBuddy, told Autocar Professional in an exclusive conversation.

Serving over 10,000 customers annually, FuelBuddy has scaled its operations across geographies and customer segments over the past few years, with a presence in more than 180 cities. The company’s customer base spans e-commerce, data centres, telecom infrastructure, residential complexes and mining operations, with nearly 80% of its customers being repeat clients.

A significant part of this retention, according to Maddala, is linked to how the company has embedded technology across its operations. “AI is helping us acquire and retain customers at scale. without AI, we may not be in existence in the current form. Much more than 40% of our customers would have got impacted if we had not implemented AI,” he said.

In FY25, FuelBuddy delivered approximately 8.5–9 crore litres of fuel in India and is targeting around 15 crore litres in the current fiscal. It reported India revenues of about ₹650 crore, while global revenues stood at roughly ₹2,500 crore, with India contributing about a quarter of the total business. “This year we are trying to target almost double of what we have done last year,” Maddala added.

AI as the Operating Layer

A key factor underpinning FuelBuddy’s scale is the use of AI across different parts of its operations, from fuel dispensing and demand forecasting to logistics planning. The company uses AI-led systems to monitor fuel dispensing through live video tracking, enabling customers to verify refuelling activity and adherence to standard operating procedures. It also deploys AI to detect spillage and identify potential leakages, particularly in diesel generator operations.

“We provide live video recordings of all the diesel fillings, and the AI is able to predict spillage if it is happening,” Maddala said.

FuelBuddy is also using data from sensors embedded in diesel generators and related equipment to forecast demand up to 7–15 days in advance, allowing customers to plan consumption and reduce the risk of downtime. “We are able to predict demand 7 days, 15 days in advance, so that they have zero downtime,” he said.

On the logistics side, AI is used to optimise delivery routes, improve fleet utilisation and identify anomalies such as pilferage within the supply chain. “We are using AI in doing planning for our vehicles as well, and to predict any spillages, any pilferages,” Maddala said. In one telecom infrastructure deployment, such interventions have resulted in fuel savings of 8–12%.

FuelBuddy has also been building out its internal technology capabilities to support these use cases. While the core technology stack is already in place, the company is expanding its team to customise and manage solutions across different customer requirements. “We have already built the main stack… now we are adding people to manage it for different customers and use cases,” Sunil Maddala said.

At its core, FuelBuddy is attempting to move fuel from a commodity transaction to a managed, data-driven service layer, where efficiency, transparency and predictability drive differentiation rather than supply alone.

From Fuel Delivery to Energy Management

FuelBuddy currently operates a fleet of over 80 bowser vehicles, with operations managed through its technology platform, where AI plays a role in routing, monitoring and utilisation. While the company is present in close to 180 cities, a substantial part of its scale is driven through third-party delivery partnerships, particularly in markets where it leverages underutilised assets from petrol pump operators.

Beyond diesel delivery, the company is expanding towards a broader energy stack. It is piloting battery integration with diesel generators and exploring solar as part of a layered solution that includes grid supply, storage and backup generation.

“We are trying to attach batteries to the DGs and sell it as a complete solution, you pay us for the power, not the fuel,” Maddala said. The longer-term objective is to move towards an opex-driven “power-as-a-service” model, where customers pay for energy consumption rather than fuel procurement.

While alternative fuels such as CNG, LNG and electric mobility are being evaluated across segments such as mining and logistics, Maddala said large-scale transition will take time. “It is still about three to five years away for these alternatives to match the reliability of conventional fuels,” he said.

As the transition evolves, FuelBuddy’s approach is less about betting on a specific fuel and more about building an operating layer that can manage multiple energy sources. The company’s focus is increasingly on owning the intelligence that sits between energy supply and consumption