Zoomcar - Leveraging Technology

“By prioritizing safety, hygiene and customer experience with technology at the core, Zoomcar is looking to make its cars future-ready and COVID-19 safe.” – By Mr. Greg Moran, CEO, and Co-Founder Zoomcar 

COVID-19 has upended the dynamics of our economy in many ways and each industry needs to adapt itself to the new normal. The last couple of months have been quite a wild ride for everyone and particularly for those in the mobility sector! In the last few weeks of May, we began to gradually build up operations and saw bookings and subscriptions come back in a strong way. We are already seeing a 400% rise in demand and we expect this to settle down at 200-300% over the next few months. People are now looking for shorter term mobility options as opposed to a long term expense of owning a car. Although much of the mobility sector was at a standstill during the lockdown, Zoomcar was driven with a motto to minimize any disruptions in essential services, while ensuring safety for individual service providers and contractors. While Zoomcar grounded its fleet in accordance with the government’s shutdown order, we utilised select vehicles to ensure emergency mobility for the frontline workforce, including bankers, healthcare professionals, and delivery executives. 

People are now looking for shorter term mobility access as opposed to a long-term investment. We have seen a rise in demand for cars for personal work and emergency use cases. Rentals for intercity travel are up and a lot of people are opting for one-way travel. The notion of owning a car amidst such an intensifying emphasis on social distance may have taken the backseat. Still, the necessity of a mobility service remains as relevant as before. As people would avoid public transport to keep themselves safe from contracting the virus, the need for rental cars will only go up. We are looking at various car subscription models to serve the needs of the customers. We also see more demand for in-city trips compared to outstation ones and a strong focus on shorter term subscriptions. Our focus will be to diversify on this front and ensure we are covering all cities.

 Do you see the industry changing? Will travel and tourism ever be the same again?

What used to be the norm till last year may well become obsolete in the coming weeks. Therefore, each industry needs to adapt itself to the new normal. The car rental industry, to that end, is well-equipped and prepared to serve its customers. With COVID-19 forcing operations to go entirely digital, Zoomcar is leveraging technology such as AI and IoT to offer an impeccable experience to its customers. We also have keyless entry which minimize human contact and curb transmission of the virus. Every car is also thoroughly sanitized before and after each drive. With deep-rooted technology models, Zoomcar has tweaked its mobile app to allow customers to reach out at any time in case of a query through emails, messages and chatbots. The platform’s entirely digital payment gateway also makes for a smooth and hassle-free experience. Vehicle monitoring and predictive analysis will help us with data like speed, distance, RPM, clutch, break and time, that will be used to calculate the driver score, which encourages customers to drive cautiously. Not only does it increase safety of the customers but will also help maintain the car in a better condition. A close eye will be kept on Engine temperature and coolant level to predict engine seizures before it happens and guide the customers safely to a stop in case of any such situation. By prioritizing safety, hygiene and customer experience with technology at the core, Zoomcar is looking to make its cars future-ready and COVID-19 safe.

There is an exponential spike expected in the demand for car subscriptions. Considering the impending recession, car subscriptions will prove to be a better option than ride hailing. It’s simply the most affordable and quickest way of acquiring a car which is also a safe personal mobility option. Imagine getting a hatchback or an SUV delivered to your doorstep in one day flat with Zero down payment! We have multiple options for subscription but the shift in demand has been towards one, three, and six months. We anticipate a significant increase in car subscriptions post Covid-19, as consumers look to avoid public transport without the burden of car ownership. Car subscriptions will continue to evolve and grow into more flexible plans and longer durations of leases ending in 12, 24, or 36 months.

 With pent-up travel demand, what are some of the safest trips people can start thinking about taking?

In terms of privacy, flexibility, and most importantly, hygiene, private transportation is indeed the better mode. However, considering the economic slowdown owing to the pandemic, buying a car, and locking down finances for three to five years might not prove to be a smart choice. This is where rental cars come into the picture. In fact, rental cars might even be safer in today’s world with brands ensuring stringent hygiene and safety measures with the help of innovative technology. The subscription-based models are affordable, convenient, and safe. Especially considering the current recession, car subscriptions can prove to be a better option that ride hailing and as a more affordable and quicker way of acquiring a car, delivering a safe personal mobility replacement. Subscription-based car rentals are now swiftly gaining traction with a significant percentage of people opting for them.

The very business model of Zoomcar is centered on reducing the burden of increasing vehicles on the infrastructure and the environment, the data shows that a car shared takes 20 other cars off the road. Going forward the way consumers behave is not so much oriented around the environment per say, it’s much more focused on what is the overall cost perspective, that’s where when it comes to Electric Vehicles, the use now is much more towards electric two wheelers for a simple reason that the overall cost of ownership is actually on par with petrol scooters. At Zoomcar the response for electric cars has been really phenomenal, the actual use cases are very much oriented around in-city trips, really short urban commutes going on short errands, shopping, generally for a couple of hours somewhere like 30-40 kilometers in the city. This has seen quite a bit of popularity with youngsters, the peppiness and the new overall style of the electric car, eco friendliness all of that really weighing in and coming together for an enjoyable overall experience when it comes to self-drive.