Innovation

BLive is India's first Electric vehicle(EV) tourism company, which offers a curated and intimate local experience to the tourists on electric bikes without adding any environmental stress. It launched in the year 2018 in Goa as an eco-friendly transport alternative to the over-tourism problem that was affecting Goa's environmental health. The company promotes the idea of "fun over fuel," and the effortless riding on e-Bikes enhances the experience and offers a clean transport alternative, thus reducing the carbon footprint.

BLive started with a travel tech platform that eased the riding experience. The tours are driven by the locals who have a deep understanding of the places that the tourists explore, which enriches the tourists' experiences by introducing them to some of the lesser-known places and cultures.

BLive tries to provide a lasting experience of EV bikes to the tourists that will make them prefer EV bikes for future tours. With such a strong vision and mission, BLive has expanded its presence in 7 states in a span of just 2 years.

Its cool without fuel !!

Inspiration

The two founders of BLive often wondered how they could contribute back to the country on a larger scale and in the right way.

Mr. Samarth Kholkar, CEO and co-founder of BLive, hails from Goa. Tourism runs in his blood, and he has seen tourism very closely. Goa is a brand for tourism in India. The evolution of Goa tourism is vast, from being a small little place to being on the global map of tourism. There is an influx of tourism, and the amount of gasoline utilization is destroying the environment. People are not connecting with a particular location when they travel there.

Mr. Sandeep Mukherjee, COO, and co-founder of BLive, has technical, marketing, and consumer demand generation experience. He spent four years abroad, where he came across electric vehicles. He wanted to bring an electric car to India to move the automobile industry towards sustainability.

They thought, why not collaborate on electric vehicles and tourism and make a profitable and sustainable business.

That’s where the entire concept of electric vehicle tourism came about.

Overall impact

Besides the cleaner mobility, less pollution, and reducing the spending on fuel, other forms of transport, and the sharing economy, what BLive realized is that electric vehicle growth is a little muffled in India. After doing intensive research, they found that there is a gap between consumers and electric vehicle manufacturers. There was no common platform.

BLive bridges this gap between the consumer and electric vehicle manufacturers. BLive didn’t want to apply a push strategy on consumers; instead, they want customers to use the electric vehicles willingly. They found that Tourism is one industry where customers have no threshold for trying new types of vehicles.

India is a country where it needs to have a higher impact on lowering vehicular pollution in all the cities. For example, the population of Goa is 14 lakh, and Goa has the same number of vehicles, which means each household has multiple vehicles. Similar problems are seen in all other cities. By promoting the EV segment in tourism, BLive is making a positive impact on society.

The business has also impacted the community by involving local culture, wherein the immersive cultural experience has been involved. The organization also looks at being sustainable in its office area, where they operated our of a facelifted Shipment Container. BLive focused on cleaner modes of experience, fun, and sustainability in their offering. EVs and immersive cultural experiences helped them achieve these targets.

Business benefit

BLive is a profit-making firm within 3 years of operation. Keeping the lean use of the resource, BLive wants to have a high impact on reducing the carbon footprint and on the balance sheet.

The travel and Tourism industry contributes almost twice to India’s GDP than the IT Industry. In terms of employment, almost 19% of employment is generated by the travel and hospitality industry. But it is still an unstructured industry. For that reason, no major players are setting out in this industry. There is no single brand in this immersive experience space with a solid connection with the local culture.

Nowadays, even discerning travelers are no more interested in sightseeing; rather, they spent more on experiences. This kind of experience last for years. This is the elevation BLive has created in this space. BLive has been featured in all top magazines such as ET Travel, etc. It has been featured as the top 15 things to do in India by National Geography. This is all earned media for BLive. The acceptance level of Innovation is very high.

BLive’s Customer gave feedback that they love the tours and Electric vehicles and enquired where they can buy those electric vehicles. BLive saw this as an opportunity and launched India’s First online E-bike stores in the midst of a pandemic. Currently, 12 brands of Electric Scooters and cycles have listed their products on this platform. BLive is focusing on creating consumer awareness on the EV segment and convert that into demand.

Social and environmental benefit

BLive, with its business model, has impacted the tourism section, the society, and the environment in a very positive approach. The offering is built upon three main ideologies sustainability, electric mobility, and experience, wherein a tourist would be experiencing the rich and diverse heritage of Goa whilst riding an electric bike. Each Bike ride saves up to 900 gm of CO2, “In the last two years, we have saved approximately 200 trees”, said Mr. Samarth Kholkar, CEO & Co-Founder of BLive. Alongside its environmental impact, BLive has ensured that the experience entails the rich heritage of Goa. The consumers shall be coming to Goa from a very tourist perspective but shall surely return home with a part of Goa. The innovation meets UNSDGs Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action and Industry Innovation and Infrastructure. The Electric Cycle would reduce the pollution impact caused by tourism and promote healthy lifestyle habits.

Interview

Samarth Kholkar, Founder