Yulu Opposes MoRTH's Move to Deregulate Low-Speed EV Mass

A regulatory omission in a draft government notification has triggered fierce pushback from India’s leading organised player in the micro-mobility sector, exposing a critical fault line in how the country regulates low-speed electric vehicles.

On August 21, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a draft notification proposing to substitute Rule 2(u) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR), 1989. This rule historically defines the parameters that exempt low-speed battery-operated vehicles from being classified as conventional motor vehicles, sparing them registration, third-party insurance, helmet mandates, and driving license requirements.  

While the draft retains the maximum speed limit of 25 km/h and an electric motor power cap of 0.6 kW (600 watts) with a 30-minute power rating and other parameters, it completely removes the unladen weight limit, which previously capped these exempt vehicles at 60 kilograms.

For Yulu Bikes Pvt. Ltd., India’s largest shared micro-mobility operator, this deletion could cause severe regulatory vulnerability that physically opens the door for heavy-duty, unregistered electric two-wheelers to flood Indian roads. The Bengaluru-based company has filed formal objections with MoRTH, warning that deregulating vehicle mass will compromise road safety, actively penalise compliant domestic manufacturers, and ultimately threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of gig workers reliant on low-speed platforms.

To amplify its regulatory opposition, Yulu is preparing to escalate the issue through the Startup Policy Forum to present a unified front to the government. Should the ministry formalise the draft without physical safeguards, company leadership has indicated that challenging the policy in court remains a viable recourse to protect the broader ecosystem.

Bengaluru-based Yulu, which has until now raised over $198 million in equity funding, is backed by marquee investors such as Bajaj Auto, GEF Capital, and Magna, among several others. In the organised market, it competes with the likes of Zypp Electric, Alt Mobility, among several others.

The Physics of Regulatory Arbitrage:

The core of the industry's objection rests on basic physics and the realities of traffic enforcement. The severity of a vehicular collision is dictated by kinetic energy, which is a product of mass and velocity.

"The reason why weight was put was essentially speed at 25 kilometers, something of 60 kilo versus something of 80 kilo... mass into velocity," explained RK Misra, Co-founder and President of Ecosystem Partnerships at Yulu. "The impact will be much more if it's a heavier vehicle. You get hit by a truck at 10 kilometers per hour or you get hit by a Maruti at 10 kilometers per hour, the impact will be very, very different."

Under the previous framework, a 60-kilogram weight limit physically constrained the size and structural capacity of exempt vehicles, ensuring their risk profile remained comparable to a traditional bicycle. By removing this limit, manufacturers and grey-market importers can legally introduce heavy, tubular-steel frames with dual seating and expansive cargo beds, provided they pass a dynamometer homologation test electronically restricting them to 25 km/h.

However, the Indian EV market is already combating a wave of aftermarket tampering. According to Misra, a significant volume of imported, completely-knocked-down (CKD) low-speed bikes feature hidden reprogrammable motor controllers.  

"Today, a lot of Chinese illegal bikes are running. Though they have a 25 km/h limit, they have put a switch; when they put the switch on, it can go up to 40 or 45," Misra noted. "The RTO guy says, 'Sir, when we check, it is 25,' but then they are running at 45. Now, weight is something which they can't change with a switch. It's not software-controlled. That's the only thing which is physically verifiable."

Deregulating mass removes this final, physically immutable barrier. It incentivises the creation of unregistered 'ghost fleets'; heavy vehicles operating at illegal speeds of up to 45 km/h without structural safety checks, brake homologation for higher masses, or insured, licensed riders.

Global Precedents vs. Local Disconnect

The concept of a low-speed exemption stems from global conventions established by bodies like the International Transport Forum (ITF) along with local governments to provide accessible mobility. However, international regulatory frameworks strictly link speed exemptions to physical constraints like mass or pedal requirements.  

In the European Union, the Electrically Power Assisted Cycles (EPAC) standard exempts vehicles from type-approval only if they feature a maximum continuous power of 250W, cut off assistance at 25 km/h, and require the rider to pedal. The physical requirement to pedal inherently limits the structural mass of the vehicle.  

Vehicles graduating past the EPAC standard fall into the UNECE L-category framework (such as L1e-B for two-wheel mopeds), which mandates type-approval, licensing, and insurance, while still strictly enforcing mass limits (e.g., mass in running order up to 270 kg). Similarly, ASEAN nations like the Philippines impose maximum speeds of 50 km/h or minimum speed thresholds on various L-categories to prevent heavy, slow-moving hazards in traffic.

Evaluating the Government's Rationale

While MoRTH has not issued a formal explanatory memorandum alongside the draft, industry analysts suggest the ministry's intent was likely rooted in streamlining a historically rigid homologation process.

Testing agencies such as the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) frequently encountered bottlenecks certifying vehicles that marginally exceeded the 60 kg limit—weighing 61 kg or 62 kg, due to manufacturing tolerances or the integration of safer, but heavier, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery chemistries. By transitioning to a purely performance-based metric (speed and power), the government may be attempting to shift toward a modern, software-governed regulatory model.

However, operators argue this assumes a level of technological enforcement that does not exist on Indian streets. Traffic police cannot easily interrogate a proprietary motor controller during a traffic stop to verify software limits, but they can easily identify a dual-seat, 120 kg vehicle operating without a license plate.

The Judicial Threat to the Gig Economy:

The downstream economic implications of the development are significant, particularly for India’s booming quick-commerce sector. Platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto, and Blinkit rely heavily on a transient workforce of rural migrants who arrive in metropolitan hubs lacking driver's licenses or the capital for conventional motorcycles.  

Yulu currently holds an estimated 60% share of the shared micro-mobility market serving this economy, facilitating between 6 and 10 deliveries every second nationwide with a fleet of over 50,000 compliant vehicles. Misra explained that the sector provides livelihoods for roughly 100,000 gig workers and supports up to 500,000 dependents.

The industry's ultimate fear is not just increased competition from cheap imports, but the blunt instrument of judicial intervention. If heavy, tampered ghost fleets flood the market and trigger a spike in severe pedestrian or rider fatalities, civil society groups are highly likely to file Public Interest Litigations (PILs) seeking a ban on the low-speed two-wheeler industry itself. 

"There will be bikes without numbers running around without helmets, causing accidents... Somebody going to the Supreme Court (calling for a ban against micro-mobility industry)  and saying these low-speed bikes are bad, without realizing who caused it," Misra warned.

Proposed Remedies and Next Steps:

In its formal submission to MoRTH, Yulu outlined specific regulatory remedies to preserve the spirit of the low-speed exemption while accommodating technical evolution.  

The primary recommendation is the reinstatement of an unladen weight ceiling for Battery Operated Vehicles under Rule 2 (u)  at 60 kg. Acknowledging the need for flexibility, the industry suggests a marginal tolerance leeway could be introduced to accommodate modern battery packs.  

If the government remains committed to removing the weight metric, Yulu has urged the implementation of alternative physical safeguards. These include a strict single-seat mandate (prohibiting pillion riders), an explicit load-carrying capacity limit, and mandatory physical verification mechanisms at the point of sale to prevent the integration of heavy passenger frames.

As the statutory 30-day objection window closes, the automotive sector is watching closely.