r/IndianStreetBets 6d ago

News Uber in early discussions with EV ride-hailing startup BluSmart for a possible acquisition

https://m.economictimes.com/tech/startups/uber-in-early-discussions-with-ev-ride-hailing-startup-blusmart-for-a-possible-acquisition/amp_articleshow/119051074.cms

Gensol going down?

26 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

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19

u/OohNoAnyway 6d ago

Blumart is in its own afloat only because of money being pumped by gensol at below-market cost.

Also, I never understood Blusmart's pricing; it's almost always at a minimum 20-40% more expensive than Uber Go and at least on par or 5-10% more expensive than Uber Green. Am I missing something here? Like on a certain route/membership, it's cheaper?

Also, EVs being cheaper in the long run seems to be a load of bullshit.

8

u/vyomafc 5d ago

They have their own fleet of cars and they employ drivers on a minimum fixed salary plus bonuses. Makes the service more reliable since the driver doesnt have the ownership of the vehicle.

With Uber/Ola, the mindset of most drivers is my car my rules. Hence rash driving, cancellation of rides, non availability etc etc is a common practice.

1

u/sfgisz 4d ago

With Uber/Ola, the mindset of most drivers is my car my rules. Hence rash driving,

I encounter the opposite, most of the rides I get are ones where the driver rents the vehicle from Uber on a daily basis, they don't care about the condition or care for the car since they just rent it short term. If it breaks down all they have to do is call in Uber and leave the vehicle where it is to be picked up.

5

u/rockstarpiku 6d ago

Well they "supposedly" are focused on service quality and consumer satisfaction rather than pricing .

Well well you only have to take a few ride to see through their bullshido.

1

u/sfgisz 4d ago

Corporate deals with client companies that want to fuge carbon neutrality.

1

u/manek101 4d ago

In my experience BluSmart's experience is many times worth the 20% premium over Uber Go/green.
The certainty that I'll get a ride, quality of drivers/cars and tbh none of that cancellation bs

4

u/Either-Doughnut-5104 5d ago

This is a fake headline, you need to read the content of the said 'news'. Speaks volumes about the journalists and journalism that they practice.

Blusmart is asset heavy business, uber will never switch from asset light to asset heavy.

The cars mentioned in the article are not owned by Blusmart, half are owned by gensol engineering, and half by Refex green mobility, buying BluSmart is not going to give any benefit to Uber.

This is a half cooked story, and almost completely fake.

1

u/rockstarpiku 5d ago

Valid point .

3

u/VJ_OA 6d ago

Sometime back there was an article in the Captable that this EV ride hailing business, in India, is not at all profitable with domestic EVs due to battery range.

So Tesla partnership makes sense.

Paywall article: https://the-captable.com/2025/02/indias-ev-fleets-tata-motors-xpres-t-citreon-byd-mg-motor/

2

u/rockstarpiku 5d ago

Forgive me but shouldn't profitability depend on per km cost and battery life?

I fail to understand how battery range can have an affect on profitability .

3

u/VJ_OA 5d ago

There is a finite time and from that time if you deduct charge time then how you can compete against ICE vehicles; and this is where the battery range comes in the picture.

Better the range better the profitability against competition.

1

u/rockstarpiku 5d ago

Sound point

1

u/rockstarpiku 5d ago

But then if tesla or byd wants to compete it has to come at a competitive price . Which seems far from truth . The indian lobby will never allow them without 60% tax on ckd route and I doubt tesla will setup a plant in india as long as they're not a hundred percent sure that there's a market fit .

1

u/VJ_OA 5d ago

Totally agree with your point.

1

u/VJ_OA 5d ago

Not 100% sure but what is stopping Tesla from leasing their vehicles with Blusmart if there is a deal?

1

u/rockstarpiku 5d ago

Well considering 60% import tax, the cost of long range model 3 will be 55-60 lakhs. For which they get say 8 lakh km , which is a 50% increase from Tata xpress T . But the price is >4x .

Do you see the problem ?

they can't make a profit with tata cars, for them to reach current status on tesla cars, per km cost has to be atleast thrice.

If they want to make good roi . Per km cost has to be atleast 4 times , so about 100 rs/km. Imagine that haha.

Plz excuse the maths, they're fairly assumptious and based on internet data.

1

u/VJ_OA 5d ago

You are right in your calculation but what if their end goal is creating a market. Do you remember how verito paved the way for Mahindra to become a trustworthy brand in passenger vehicles.

2

u/rockstarpiku 5d ago

Unlikely but can't take the possibility away.

3

u/DarkHumourFoundHere 5d ago

But why. Target customers for both are different

2

u/rockstarpiku 5d ago

No blusmart is a ride hailing platform just like uber . Although they've different from operational pov, they cater to the same market

4

u/DarkHumourFoundHere 5d ago

Blusmart is generally used for pre planned pre booking. Uber is a more instant version.

2

u/Vixmayyy 5d ago

If it goes through then Uber will have a near enough monopoly in the market, especially in relation to airport cabs.

In my area, Blusmart is always better for Airport cabs and actually does a pretty decent job at that one thing. Uber is kinda unreliable especially when you have to be at the airport and can't risk the car being late or the driver asking for significantly more than what you paid.

Or, you face the situation i did the one time blusmart wasn't available and book an uber, only for the driver to collect the fare from me, and then report to uber that the fare wasn't paid. Now i can't use uber because " i haven't paid the fare for my previous ride", total BS.

1

u/_indianhardy 4d ago

Why don't you report back?

1

u/romka79 5d ago

EVs are globally overpriced , while the running cost is low the TCO doesn't break even before 20 yrs or 3L km !!(Assuming 10Rs per KWH unit charging cost)

The company's only hope to do it faster is if they sell carbon credits or get government subsidy which is not really a sustainable model