Last Updated on January 5, 2026 by Author
Q1. What early learnings have you drawn from this Home Demo initiative? Has it changed customer behavior compared to traditional showrooms?
The Home Demo initiative has reduced friction in the buying journey and changed how customers shop for EVs. When we bring the scooter to a customer’s home, three clear things happen: they relax (vs. the pressure of a dealership), they test the vehicle in real-use conditions (their roads, parking and charging access), and key decision-makers, family members and those handling finances get involved earlier.
Key takeaways:
- Conversion rates are higher than walk-in showroom trials
- Decision cycles are shorter; the journey moves from “browse first, decide later” to “experience first, decide faster”
- Home demos particularly quicken decisions for working professionals, women riders, and gig workers who can’t easily visit showrooms
- Home demos also help address common EV concerns range, charging and comfort because customers can validate these in their own environment.
Q2. How do you see the BaaS and swappable-battery model evolving in India over the next 12–18 months? Do you expect most first-time EV adopters to prefer battery rental vs. outright purchase?
We expect Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) and swappable batteries to become the default entry model for first-time EV users in the next year or two. Swap-network coverage will expand beyond metros into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, making the model practical at scale.
Why first-time adopters will prefer rental:
- Much lower upfront cost
- No battery-degradation risk for the user
- Faster scalability for fleet owners who need predictable uptime
So yes, for first-time buyers and many fleet operators, battery rental will overwhelmingly be the preferred route.
Q3. What are the biggest operational challenges in scaling a last-mile EV fleet at this scale, and how do you plan to ensure reliability, rider safety, and low downtime?
Top operational challenges:
- Ensuring charging & swapping uptime across the network
- Standardising vehicle maintenance at scale
- Managing rider behaviour and road safety
Our approach:
- Partner with leading BaaS players (for example, Battery Smart) and ensure vehicles are fully integrated and tested for connectivity with those networks.
- Use a hybrid maintenance model: trusted third-party service partners for scale, complemented by our own trained technicians to maintain standards.
- Reduce rider-caused issues through rider training and by using IoT-based tracking to monitor riding style, vehicle health and fleet performance. This combination improves reliability and helps cut downtime.
Q4. How do you balance and manage the differing demands of B2C retail customers and B2B fleet clients without compromising service quality or brand value?
We treat B2C and B2B as distinct experience layers built on the same core platform — same mission, different journeys.
How we manage both without dilution:
- Dedicated teams focused on retail and fleet operations respectively
- Separate SLAs tailored to the use case (delight and trust for B2C; efficiency and predictable costs for B2B)
- Shared backend infrastructure to guarantee reliability, with separate operational workflows so one segment doesn’t cannibalise the other
- A consistent brand experience whether it’s a home demo for a retail buyer or a scaled fleet deployment for a gig operator
The result: both segments get what they need while the brand mission accelerating the shift to sustainable mobility stays intact.
Q5. How important is data-driven fleet management to your long-term strategy? What kind of insights and efficiencies do you hope to drive using telematics and fleet analytics?
Data is central to Lilypad’s long-term defensibility. We’re building a proprietary fleet-management platform so telematics and analytics become the backbone of operations.
Planned analytics capabilities:
- Predictive failure detection.
- Route and energy optimisation.
- Rider-behaviour scoring.
- Battery-health forecasting.
Timeline & expected impact:
- Platform rollout and initial analytics work is targeted in the next 3–6 months.
- We expect these capabilities to improve asset life by ~20–30%, reduce downtime by ~25%, and lower operating cost per km.
Q6. Given India’s socio-economic diversity, how is Lilypad ensuring that EV adoption remains affordable and inclusive, especially for gig workers and first-time buyers?
Affordability and inclusion are built into our model because many of our users depend on vehicles for income.
How we ensure inclusivity:
- Focus on smaller, low-speed vehicles alongside higher-speed models to broaden affordability.
- Offer battery leasing rather than forcing battery ownership, reducing upfront cost and risk.
- Keep rentals and security deposits among the lowest in the market to make earning mobility accessible.
Beyond selling vehicles, we are enabling income mobility that’s the inclusion lever we prioritise.
Q7. What are the biggest challenges you foresee in expanding EV adoption to smaller cities, and how will Lilypad adapt its business model to meet local infrastructure, consumer habits, and pricing sensitivities?
Biggest challenges in smaller cities:
- Weak grid and charging infrastructure.
- Limited access to financing.
- Lower awareness of EV benefits.
- Greater price sensitivity.
How we’ll adapt:
- Partner with wide-coverage BaaS providers to lower costs and reduce dependence on local charging infrastructure and financing.
- Deploy smaller, lighter low-speed vehicles that match local use-cases and cost expectations.
- Run targeted social-media awareness campaigns aimed at both consumers and gig workers to build confidence and demand.
We believe smaller cities, not just metros will drive the next wave of EV volume growth, and our model is designed to scale into those markets.
