Technology startup AutoNxt Automation is planning to start commercial production of India's first battery-operated tractors in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district in May.
The company has plans to manufacture driverless EV tractors one year from now and have done test runs as well, according to company executives.
To begin with, the firm will sell the tractors to fleet operators, corporates and construction companies owning more than five tractors. It will then look at medium to large farmers as it will be challenging to explain the economics of ownership to individual farmers until the subsidies are introduced by the Union and state governments.
The company has business-to-business orders from India and multiple requests from countries in Africa, Latin America and the U.S. for EV tractors as the cost of ownership in comparison with conventional fossil fuel-based tractors is much less.
The company will initially start with production of 50 vehicles per month in the phase zero facility and It will be increased to 200 vehicles in phase 1 facility. The production will be raised to roughly 1,000 tractors per month or around 10,000 tractors yearly in the phase 2 facility.
Electric self-driving 27-horsepower tractor with AutoNxt board of directors (left to right): Kaustubh Dhonde, CEO; IV Rao, senior production adviser; Swadeep Pillarisetti, adviser; Pankaj Goyal, COO. (Source: Company)
Electric self-driving 27-horsepower tractor with AutoNxt board of directors (left to right): Kaustubh Dhonde, CEO; IV Rao, senior production adviser; Swadeep Pillarisetti, adviser; Pankaj Goyal, COO. (Source: Company)
The startup has already raised the seed round of Rs 6 crore that went into developing the production-ready tractors. Now, it has raised part of the pre-series A round of $2 million, which was utilised to set up the phase zero facility, according to Pankaj Goyal, co-founder and chief operations officer, at AutoNxt Automation.
After the completion of pre-series A round, they will setup their phase 1 facility. Series A is planned in 2024 for $15–20 million for setting up phase 2 expansion, Goyal told BQ Prime.
The EV and automation player initially plans to cater to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Later, it intends to increase the scope to south India and Maharashtra's horticulture regions with different types of tractors.
There is potential demand from African countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Sudan and neighbouring Asian countries, Goyal said.
The demand is there from solar panel manufacturers for transport and cleaning of the panels. A robotic arm is attached that uses the battery of the EV tractor to clean solar panels of large projects stretching over several kilometers in nondescript regions.
"These tractors are used more for transport purposes as well as agricultural usage," Kaustubh Dhonde, founder and chief executive officer at AutoNxt Automation, said.
In agriculture, it can be used for harvesting, ploughing, spraying and heavy 19-tonne load haulage at one fourth the price of diesel tractors, while they get the job done twice as fast as the diesel counterpart, Dhonde said.
The price range of these tractors would vary between Rs 6 lakh for a 20-horsepower tractor and Rs 14.5 lakh for a 45-hp tractor.
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