Anirudh Arun on how BluSmart is redefining urban commute via zero emission rate

BluSmart, India’s first and largest EV ride-hailing service and EV charging infrastructure operator, is revolutionising the way people travel in cabs in urban India. However, until now this safe, reliable and sustainable taxi service is just in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru.

Recently, company has unveiled its new visual identity, marking a significant milestone in its continuing evolution as a brand. In the last four years, BluSmart has rapidly changed the face of urban shared mobility. With a mission to de-carbonise mobility at scale, BluSmart has received immense customer and brand love for the thoughtful and serene experience that it provides to over 2 million customers in just two cities on a month on month basis.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Anirudh Arun, Co-Founder and COO, BluSmart, shares more about the brand, its ideology and future plans.

Could you please share BluSmart’s success journey so far? What inspired you to initiate an EV cab company?

We at BluSmart have always believed in staying ahead of the curve and catching on trends and leveraging them early on. Switching to EV is the need of the hour and we believe that the future of mobility is electric. As a start-up with the ambition to disrupt public transportation, we knew that we had to do it in a way that not only actively improves the mobility ecosystem but also takes CO2 emissions into consideration. Our vision has been to de-carbonise mobility at scale across mega cities of India.

Since our inception in 2019, we have driven a total of 300 million all-electric kilometers in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru with India’s largest EV fleet size comprising over 5000 cars. This has helped save 23 million kg of carbon dioxide emissions which is equivalent to the positive impact of more than nine lakh fully mature trees absorbing CO2 for an entire year!

BluSmart has also built EV charging infrastructure across prime locations in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru. We have 34 charging superhubs and over 4000 charging points, spread across over 1.3 Mn sq. ft. of area.

How is BluSmart re-defining commuting in urban cities? How are EVs more concentrated on reliability & predictability?

BluSmart is redefining urban commute through its various key differentiators zero cancellation, predictable pricing and zero tailpipe emissions. BluSmart ensures that customers experience reliability and safety, leading to greater trust and satisfaction. Additionally, BluSmart has a zero cancellation policy and provides a more dependable transportation option for users along with courteous drivers. All of this is possible via our born electric technology stack which consists of a network of smart cars and smart chargers communicating to a central cloud based technology core. In addition to this, BluSmart's unique asset-light model for its driver partners aims to take as much burden away from our driver partners and make them independent and financially stable. Our driver partners are recruited based on their driving and interpersonal skills and are not required to pre-own any asset.

Please share about your latest brand logo campaign. What are the ethos behind the brand identity and what has brought about the logo change?

BluSmart as a brand is all about reliability, predictability and simplicity. The entire experience of commuting in urban cities is known to be stressful, but while using BluSmart we want our customers to experience a serene feeling that emanates peace of mind. Our entire experience is carefully designed to ensure the absolute ease of use and minimise cognitive load right from using the app, the ride experience, clean & sanitized cars, interaction with the driver partner, payment and booking experience.

BluSmart has unveiled its new visual identity which marks an exciting milestone in its evolution as a brand. With the new identity conceptualised by BluSmart’s in-house team, one of the most significant changes, is the colour. The brand has shifted from a slightly purplish-tinted blue to a pure, vibrant blue. This updated hue is not only more modern but also aligns perfectly with the brand’s evolving identity.

The colour blue is long associated with trust, sincerity and stability. It signifies freshness, clarity, and the promise of a brighter future – characteristics that define the company’s commitment to making urban mobility hassle-freeand peaceful. Furthermore, the changes improve the readability and overall aesthetic appeal to the new logo. The custom Poppins font with its rounded edges symbolizes tranquility, while the pure blue colour represents clarity and a sustainable future, encapsulating our brand core. To conclude, BluSmart's new logo is more than just a visual change; it's a reflection of the company’s commitment to the people and to the planet.

BluSmart has recently evolved and now we can see more of these cabs running around the cities. What has brought about this sudden popularity of BluSmart?

BluSmart is creating an ecosystem to further all-electric shared mobility in urban cities. We aim to become the clean energy <> mobility <> infrastructure providers for mega cities of the world that are transitioning to cleaner and sustainable solutions.

The main reason that BluSmart gained popularity is our customer centricity. We have enabled zero cancellations and predictable pricing on our rides ensuring trust and transparency. Secondly, the cars are on time, hygienic and clean, with courteous driver partners for a smooth ride experience. Thirdly, and most importantly, the rider has become aware about the environmental impact of mobility and wants to reduce the impact of carbon emissions, which is made possible by using an EV.

BluSmart has multiple use cases and scenarios that are thought through to incorporate customers' use-cases for their commute needs. Following are the offerings BluSmart offers:

Intra City rides
Rental
Intercity (Delhi to Chandigarh and Delhi to Jaipur)
City to Airport rides

These offerings are mindful of the different commute needs our customers have and we are constantly working towards introducing newer offerings based on customer feedback. We have a CO2 tracker feature in-built within our app where-in after every ride, a customer can check the amount of CO2 saved through a particular ride and similarly for historical rides taken on the platform. At BluSmart, we invest in safety be it customer safety, driver partner safety or even ensuring safety features are functional within the EV cars. There are daily checks that are undertaken and intensive safety training given to Driver Partners including behavioural and gender sensitisation. Women especially find it safe and reliable to commute using BluSmart.

BluSmart has committed to zero emission in urban mobility with its fleet of over 5,000 EVs. Could you enlighten us on this?

Our mission is to de-carbonise mobility at scale and provide exceptional customer experience and driver partner satisfaction. Our aim is to go from zero tailpipe emissions to zero emissions. By enabling zero tailpipe carbon emission transport options in densely populated megacities, since inception in 2019, BluSmart has till date saved 23 million kg of CO2 emissions. BluSmart is being built with the intent to contribute to a cleaner and greener environment. While electric vehicles today result in zero tailpipe emissions, there is certainly an opportunity to move to more greener sources of energy. By utilising electricity produced through renewable sources will take the green mandate further. Energy sources that capture through solar, biofuels can improve energy security and ensure reduced carbon emissions.

Please tell us about the marketing campaigns that have been employed for raising awareness about eco-friendly mobility?

We chose to have an all-electric fleet that contributes to cleaner air and environment. We believe that electric vehicles are the future of commuting and our campaign objectives center around Electric mobility and EV adoption, contribution to cleaner environment and convenience of using BluSmart. Owing to our service, many Indians have had the chance to experience an EV first-hand. Our driver partners are also trained on all technical aspects on driving and maintaining an EV.

To support these objectives, we have rolled out many notable campaigns. We want to create a community that is conscious of sustainable choice and practices, while also keeping convenience and accessible commute at the center of our customers. Our app displays a CO2 tracker that shows the amount of CO2 saved after every ride taken by the user. This helps with educating the customers and taking a BluSmart is a way to do your ‘good deed of the day’. We run an annual campaign called MyBluKms where we recognise and reward customers with the highest amount of CO2 saved. We run this typically around Diwali to create awareness of the air quality and how emissions are a big contributor to pollution.

We also celebrate our driver partners and they truly are the drivers of change of the electric fleet revolution. We have a dedicated campaign called #HeroesBehindtheWheel that features the human and personal side of many of our driver partners.

Earlier this year, we did a campaign with PVR for the Barbenheimer season. With the year’s biggest movie screening, we used this opportunity to position BluSmart to be used for recreational purposes apart from the airport and office drop use-cases. Our campaign approach has been hyper-local and we aim to unlock intra-city commute and make it convenient for customers to book a BluSmart for their leisure, recreation or shopping needs within the city. We are also partnering with prominent malls in the cities to promote sustainable ride-sharing as the go-to choice to commute in one’s city.

Airports being a key segment for our service, we take special care in ensuring there is enough visibility and branding of BluSmart at the airports. We also curate small kiosks and assist our riders.

What can you say about the way forward for BluSmart in India? What are your five year plans?

Our strategy for expansion is to go deeper and wider in the existing cities of Delhi NCR and Bengaluruin the near term. We currently have a fleet of over 5000 EVs and aim to grow it to nearly 8000 EVs by March 2024 and expand deeper in areas that are yet to be serviceable in these two markets. These two cities account for over 45% of the ride-hailing market and we have a strategy to remain focused in these markets in the near term.

EV cabs are more cost-effective than fuel run cars. What other factors are making EV cabs popular?

With rising fuel costs and the economic impact of degrading air quality, the burden of cost is only going to increase. Moreover, there is a growing awareness about the environmental impact of ICE vehicles and the use of fossil fuels, combined with rising awareness about the positive impact of EVs on the environment. EV adoption has been increasing in India. According to reports, there has been over 150% increase in EV registrations and most of these are in the 2W and 3W segment, however there is a comparable growth in the 4W segment that is expected in the coming years. Even the technology has improved significantly with EVs in 2019 having a range in the 100km to latest EVs having a range upwards of 300km. This has translated into more people opting for EV cabs over the usual fuel run cars. Overall, EV technology has also improved by a large margin, the range for the EVs are a lot higher today than a few years back. This has helped reduce range anxiety significantly leading to higher adoption of EVs.