Magna invests in Yulu Mobility
Magna is expanding into the micro-mobility market by investing $77 million in Yulu, India’s largest electrified scooter-sharing provider, and creating a battery-swapping service joint venture.
Yulu is known for its shareable, low-speed, electric two-wheelers, which the company says it uses to facilitate accessible, sustainable urban mobility in India. As part of the agreement, Magna will have a stake in the company and hold a seat on Yulu’s board of directors.
Yulu currently has approximately 10,000 electric two-wheelers in service and operations in Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai and is targeting an additional 15 cities in the next 18 months. The company also has stated plans to expand beyond India in the future. Amit Gupta, Co-founder & CEO of Yulu, said: “We can clearly see a significant growth opportunity for Yulu in both the BaaS and MaaS businesses in the next three to four years.”
In addition to the financial cooperation, the two companies have established a new battery swapping entity to support the rapid growth in the electrification of mobility and required infrastructure. The new venture will be called Yulu Energy, which will provide a Battery-as-a-Service (Baas) service in India. Magna will serve as the exclusive battery-swapping provider for Yulu’s customers and manage the future buildup of the infrastructure required for the planned “millions of swaps per week”.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for Magna to contribute to a sustainable future in urban mobility through this investment in Yulu,” said Matteo Del Sorbo, Executive Vice President, Magna International and Global Lead for Magna New Mobility. “Micro-mobility presents a great opportunity for additional growth for Magna, and joining forces with Yulu helps us expand our business into this rapidly growing sector.”
Magna has recently been scaling up their production with the first completed Fisker Ocean prototypes in August and launched a joint venture with LG focusing on powertrain production in Mexico in April. That is not the only area in e-mobility that Magna has been expanding into, however, as the company has a development agreement with the Israeli startup Ree Automotive and had a hand in the development of Sony’s electric vehicle concept presented in 2020.
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