International Soft Launch by AutoNxt Automation Pvt Ltd
Electric Vehicle Innovation Summit (EVIS), ADNEC, Abu Dhabi, May 23-25, 2022
H.E. Sunjay Sudhir, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, inaugurated the international soft launch of indigenously made smart electric tractors by Mumbai based startup, AutoNxt Automation Pvt Ltd at the Electric Vehicle Innovation Summit, ADNEC, Abu Dhabi earlier today, May 25, 2022, Wed. This was next to the other stalls by British Volt, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Hyundai, Nissan, and other global auto giants that were exhibiting and are actively foraying into the global EV space. This event was the first of its kind in the UAE and was attended by hundreds of investors, clients, vendors, partners and OEMs in the global EV ecosystem from several countries. H.E. Sudhir commented, “AutoNxt is looking to change the way farming is done and transform the lives of farmers around the world with their indigenously made smart electric tractors. With the Make In India focus, India is clearly emerging as the next big EV player on the global field.”
This dream project to help alleviate the woes of the Indian farmers was started by Kaustubh Dhonde, back in November of 2016 who further bootstrapped this venture for a long while. He said, “When I saw the farmers struggling with the rising fuel prices, I truly felt that making electric tractors with really low operating costs was going to be a true game changer. Fast forward 5 years and now we have pre orders worth $7 M USD, the Lamborghini founding family has shown strong interest in licensing their name to us when we enter the Europe market and dozens of dealers ready to distribute our smart electric tractors”. AutoNxt is now in the market raising their seed round to help them complete the certification and get into mass production.
Of the 2 million tractors being sold annually around the world, about half of them are made in India, with the top 5 or 6 players having a monopoly over more than 80% of the market. The electric version reduces operating costs by over 80% and breaks even the cost difference when compared to the ICE versions, in less than 3 years. For foreign markets where the labour costs are very high, the autonomous features of the tractors will start to make a lot of economic sense. Tube Investments recently acquired a majority stake in electric tractor startup, Cellestial Mobility, thus triggering the strong interest in the electric tractor space.
