Magna and Yulu Bikes, one of India’s pioneering micro-mobility electric two-wheeler players, have formed a joint venture to launch Yuma Energy. This business provides electric two-wheelers with a swappable battery ecosystem, or “battery as a service.” Magna invested a total of $77 million to establish this joint venture in September 2022 and on February 2, 2023.
A part of this investment is for setting up a battery-swapping infrastructure that is operational in about 85 locations. The plan is to expand to 500 locations across many more cities by the end of 2023. Yuma Energy’s battery as a service (BaaS) network will cater to Yulu’s rental micro-mobility bikes. It will also cater to other electric two-wheeler companies that rely on a battery-swapping model for their mobility plans. The rest of the investment is in deploying more micro-mobility scooters every month.
Matteo Del Sorbo, executive vice president and global lead for new mobility at Magna says the core strategy of Yuma is around creating a network for a BaaS or energy as a service company, like Yulu. “The focus is originally on low speed, shared mobility, which is our anchor customer, Yulu, and the growth there is quite substantial. We plan to add 10,000 new (Yulu bikes) every month going forward starting in April,” says Matteo.
