ABSTRACT
In early January 2021, Tapan Das, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Safewheels Cab Services, was busy evaluating a proposal to replace diesel vehicles with electric vehicles. Safewheels Cab Services was established in 2007 as one of the early radio cabs with operations in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bangalore. By the end of 2019, it had its operations in 25 Indian cities. It was planning to add 20 more cities under its coverage by 2025. Delhi government's announcement of its new Electric Vehicles (EV) policy came just about at the right time for Safewheels. It had to replace its ageing fleet of 100 cars plying in Delhi, immediately. Since Safewheels had moved to the aggregator-based business model, it wanted fewer vehicles in its fleet.
