Euler Motors Driving the Future of

Kumar's path to entrepreneurship began far from the world of electric vehicles.

Raised in a village in Bihar, he was introduced to formal schooling only in Class 6 after moving to Delhi. An early exposure to robotics created a lasting fascination with the intersection of software and hardware, eventually leading him to computer science at Cornell University and then to Yahoo.

His first startup, Cube26, operated at the intersection of software customisation and OEM partnerships. After six years, the company was acquired by Paytm in 2018. The exit provided financial stability but also prompted a deeper question about impact.

It was during that period of reflection that Kumar zeroed in on commercial vehicles as the most visible and intensive contributors to urban emissions. A small group of former Cube26 colleagues joined him to build Euler Motors, with in-house R&D covering battery systems, mechanical engineering, and electronics from the very beginning.

Unlike many EV startups that began with product-first ambitions, Euler took a deliberately cautious entry into the market.

In its earliest phase, the company purchased and modified a handful of electric three-wheelers and deployed them within logistics networks. This allowed the team to test real-world performance, understand payload constraints, and map customer willingness to pay before committing to manufacturing.

Blinkit, then known as Grofers, became the first customer, followed by BigBasket, Flipkart, and Udaan. Over an eight-month pilot, Euler gathered detailed insights into route density, battery degradation, charging infrastructure, and operating economics.

The validation moment came when BigBasket placed an order for 20 vehicles.

"I still vividly remember the day when we managed to onboard BigBasket. We knew there is a business here that can be scalable," Kumar recalls.

By 2020, the company had deployed over 200 vehicles and made a decisive move toward vertical integration, beginning work on its own liquid-cooled battery systems at a time when most EV players relied on third-party suppliers. Controlling the most critical component meant controlling performance and margins. It was a long-term bet that would define the company's architecture for years to come.

Euler's transition into a full-fledged original equipment manufacturer crystallised in 2021, backed by a $5.6 Mn Series A round led by Inventus Capital, Jetty Ventures, and ADV Ventures.

The company launched its flagship product, the HiLoad EV, positioned as a high-payload, long-range cargo vehicle with a certified range of over 150 km and a payload capacity of 768 kg. These specifications directly addressed the operational needs of last-mile logistics players, for whom range anxiety and payload limitations had been the biggest barriers to EV adoption.

The launch was accompanied by ecosystem investments: over 200 charging points deployed across Delhi NCR and fast-charging capabilities designed for commercial use cases to reduce downtime and improve fleet utilisation. A five-year battery warranty, an industry first in the segment, was introduced to reduce buyer hesitation around total cost of ownership.

By 2022, Euler had secured orders for approximately 2,500 vehicles from large e-commerce and logistics companies and expanded its footprint to more than 10 cities.

The latter half of 2022 and 2023 exposed the complexities of scaling a hardware business.

A $60 Mn funding round led by GIC provided the capital to ramp up production. But the financials reflected the inherent tension between growth and sustainability. Revenue nearly doubled to Rs 49 Cr in FY23, while expenses surged to Rs 220 Cr, resulting in a loss of Rs 169 Cr.

Kumar acknowledged the reality plainly: the company was optimised for scale rather than efficiency. Production ramp-ups, network expansion, and upfront infrastructure investment created a cost structure that outpaced revenue growth.

The response was a strategic reset. In April 2023, Euler reduced its workforce by around 10% and began tightening unit economics across the board. Warranty-related costs, which had reached as high as 10 to 15% of expenses, were brought down to 1 to 2%. Supply chain optimisation followed.

The competitive pressure was also intensifying. Established players like Atul Auto, TVS Motor, and Piaggio entered the electric three-wheeler space, bringing decades of manufacturing expertise and distribution muscle. Rather than competing on price, Euler doubled down on positioning its vehicles as premium, performance-oriented products built for higher range and reliability.

By 2024, Euler began executing what may prove to be its most consequential strategic shift: moving into four-wheeler electric commercial vehicles.

"Four-wheelers were always part of the plan. Since 2021 we have had a prototype of a four-wheeler in our office. But we lacked capital then," Kumar says.

The launch of the Storm EV range marked Euler's entry into a segment with larger ticket sizes and significantly higher revenue potential. Early results suggest the bet is already reshaping the company's revenue mix, with four-wheelers contributing 55 to 60% of overall revenues despite lower deployment volumes compared to three-wheelers.

A Rs 538 Cr investment from Hero MotoCorp has been the most significant validation of this direction. The partnership brings manufacturing expertise, supply chain advantages, and brand credibility alongside the capital, all of which are critical for scaling a hardware-led business.

By 2025, Euler had expanded its presence across 50 cities, with cumulative customer operations crossing 20 Cr km. The company has also initiated pilots in passenger EV mobility, signalling ambitions that now extend well beyond cargo logistics.

Despite the rapid expansion, Euler Motors has not yet cracked the most fundamental challenge in the EV space: profitability.

Kumar is candid about this. The company is targeting break-even by FY29, a goal that depends on improving gross margins, increasing asset utilisation, and driving higher sales volumes across both three and four-wheeler segments. India's commercial EV market, currently worth $6.11 Bn and projected to reach $17.48 Bn by 2031 at 19.16% annual growth, provides a tailwind. But tailwinds alone do not build profitable businesses.