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Episode 99 · Deep tech · 53 min

Physics doesn't ship over the air

Orxa spent eight years getting an electric motorcycle down to 182 kilograms — the weight of the petrol bike it wants to replace — and its founders' claim is that no amount of AI moves that number. The Mantis does 135 km/h with a claimed 220 km of range; everything else, from cell chemistry to a 14,000 km lap of India on prototypes, is the slow work software cannot shortcut.

Mobility & EV Deep tech & hardware Manufacturing

Ranjita and Prajwal

Co-founders, Orxa Energies · with Vishal Krishna

53:29

Said in this episode

▶ 16:08

182 kg

Weight of the Mantis

Claimed as the lightest electric motorcycle in its segment; comparable electric bikes were put at upwards of 200 kg and an equivalent petrol motorcycle at around 175 kg.

▶ 18:16

220 km

Claimed range on a charge

Alongside a 135 km/h top speed, 0-100 km/h in 8.9 seconds and 27-28 horsepower — pitched as the equivalent of a 250cc petrol bike.

▶ 32:05

~20 million

India's annual two-wheeler market

Quoted in round terms on air: about 20 million units, two-thirds motorcycles and one-third scooters, with the 200-500cc band growing year on year since 2016.

▶ 35:24

40%+

Carbon footprint cut by a battery's second life

Putting an automotive pack into a stationary application before recycling extends its working life enough to reduce the battery's footprint by more than 40%, on the founders' figure.

▶ 37:19

70-80% vs 20-30%

Two-wheelers that go electric in five years

Their split forecast: commuter and delivery-fleet two-wheelers can largely electrify already on economics; the performance segment reaches a fifth to a third within five years.

▶ 47:56

14,000 km

Perimeter-of-India ride on prototypes

Two accelerator mentors rode pre-production Mantis bikes around the country's edge over roughly two months, through landslides and from 45C to minus 5C.

The brief

The argument in sixty seconds

The founders' claim is that an electric motorcycle is not a software product with a battery bolted on — it is a hardware platform whose limits are set by physics, chemistry and maths, and that anyone promising AI will turn 200 km of range into 500 km is telling a flat-out lie. Eight years, starting in a second-floor unit where prototypes went up the stairs by hand, produced the Mantis: 182 kg against the 200-plus kilograms of comparable electric motorcycles and roughly 175 kg for an equivalent petrol bike, 27-28 horsepower, 135 km/h, a claimed 220 km. The strategy underneath is subtractive — keep vehicle design, vehicle engineering, the battery pack and the power and low-voltage electronics in house, buy the rest from an Indian component base that already covers some 85% of the vehicle on the figure quoted on air, and accept that the cell is the last thing India will localise, because what works for the mass market will not work for a performance product. The market read is that India's roughly 20-million two-wheeler year is two-thirds motorcycles, that the 200-500cc aspirational band has grown every year since 2016, and that a country buying its first vehicles will not accept clean if clean means slow. What follows: second life before recycling, which they say cuts a battery's carbon footprint by more than 40%; connectivity that collects nothing identifying and is refused when it adds nothing; over-the-air updates deliberately rare; and deliveries in April, only after the after-sales network exists rather than before.

Worth your time if you are

Hardware founders being told AI will fix their roadmap

EV and battery operators sizing India's two-wheeler shift

Riders weighing an electric motorcycle against a 250cc petrol bike

First-time OEMs building on a frugal balance sheet

Episode map

Where the conversation travels

Every block is a chapter, coloured by what it's about. Click any of it to jump straight to that minute on YouTube.

Mobility & EVDeep tech & hardwareManufacturingClimate & energyFounder journeyProduct strategy

01Cold open: a factory and the Mantis 0:00 Vishal records from the shop floor where the bike is being built, and the founders introduce Orxa as a performance electric vehicle company whose just-launched motorcycle does 135 km/h with 220 km of range — a story, he warns upfront, about physics and chemistry rather than AI. 02Engineers, a PhD, and a fire-exit call 1:33 They met as engineering students in Bangalore and married; he went on to a Master's and a PhD in France while she did pharmaceutical sales across South India, an MBA and internal audits in twenty-odd countries — until a call taken in a South African fire exit revealed he had already resigned, bought motors and battery packs, and started registering the company. 03Two hours for six kilometres 4:22 Prajwal had a senior corporate role building India-France engineering collaborations and university tie-ups, but the problem he wanted to own was the one he felt daily — two hours to cover six kilometres in Bengaluru traffic, and the air that came with it. 04Support without generational wealth; naming Orxa 6:44 Entrepreneurship ran through his family and public-sector and automotive careers through hers, but neither side brought capital — what they had was permission to try; the name came from the Icelandic word for energy, with a Greek chi swapped in to escape both 'orca' and the Indian connotations of 'aura'. 05What a first-time OEM keeps in house 10:11 From carrying prototypes up two floors to a frugality doctrine — a first-time OEM can lose control of its costs fast — Orxa keeps vehicle design, vehicle engineering, the battery pack and the power and low-voltage electronics in house, buys tyres and shocks from India's deep component base at a stated 85% localisation, and accepts that the cell is the hardest thing left to localise because mass-market cells will not serve a performance product. 06182 kg, 27 horsepower, and no CC 15:20 The Mantis is pitched as a street motorcycle rather than a committed sports bike — accessible ergonomics, 182 kg against 200-plus for comparable electric motorcycles and about 175 kg for an equivalent petrol machine, 27-28 horsepower or roughly a 250cc equivalent, 135 km/h, 220 km and 0-100 in 8.9 seconds. 07Who is actually booking it 18:30 Interest spans first- and second-job riders in their twenties, 'boss bikers' adding to an existing garage and near-retirement riders wanting a city alternative to a big bike — with women a consistent 20-30% of every track day run between June and September — and the ownership promise is deliberately unglamorous: no ten apps, no hoops, the bike fits your life rather than the reverse. 08The EV non-believers at the track day 22:50 Big-bike riders turn up as declared EV sceptics and leave telling their groups otherwise, and the founders refuse to synthesise an engine note — the motor has a sound of its own, and modern petrol engines have been smoothed and silenced anyway. 09Ten axes of chemistry, and the energy mix 26:30 Cell chemistry gets chosen on roughly ten axes rather than the two — safety and performance — that public argument allows, and on the larger fuel question they back a mix of renewables, non-renewables, nuclear and bioethanol, because the main thing is emissions coming down, not which technology wins the debate. 10Why the performance segment 31:40 India buys roughly 20 million two-wheelers a year, two-thirds of them motorcycles, and the 200-500cc aspirational band has grown year on year since 2016 — so the bet is that a country in which millions are buying a family's first vehicle will not trade aspiration for cleanliness. 11Second life before recycling 34:50 A pack that serves a stationary second life before it is broken down cuts its carbon footprint by more than 40%, which is why circularity is designed in from the start and why Orxa has tied up with Nunam — and why the founders openly tell young startups that battery reuse and recycling is a market worth entering. 12Own stack, slow OTAs, hard limits 37:40 They built their own middleware and vehicle-health stack rather than buying it, deliberately push software rarely because hardware demands stability over release velocity, use AI for coding, quality and operational efficiency — and flatly reject the idea that any layer of AI turns 200 km of range into 500. 13Ownership is the product; privacy is the test 42:26 Customer service is designed from the owner's seat — they hire only bikers, have ridden EVs since 2016, and will not expand next year until the after-sales network and spares are in place — and the same restraint governs data: nothing collected that identifies the rider, and no data partnership with telcos or platforms unless it adds real value to the customer. 1414,000 km around India, then April 47:56 Two accelerator mentors marking their 50th and 60th birthdays rode pre-production prototypes with 3D-printed metal parts around the perimeter of India — an electric Bharat Mala through landslides, 45C heat and minus 5C — a project the founders prepared for by listing, over beer, three pages of everything that could break; some of the resulting IP is now patented, and deliveries begin in April.

Takeaways

Ideas to carry out of this hour

AI cannot renegotiate physics and chemistry

Orxa uses AI where it genuinely helps — coding, software development, quality, shorter cycles, even slide decks — and says so plainly. What it rejects is the category error underneath most hardware AI pitches: a vehicle is a platform with hard constraints that survive for years, and no number of software layers moves them. Prajwal's test is blunt: explore any claim that stays inside physics, chemistry and maths, but if someone tells you a 200 km bike becomes a 500 km bike because AI was added, that is a flat-out lie.

▶ 40:54 ▶ 41:27 ▶ 41:55

Keep the main thing the main thing: emissions, not the technology

Asked to referee the EV-versus-hydrogen-versus-biofuel argument, both founders refuse the framing. Transport touches all 7.5 billion people on earth, so no single source replaces it overnight; the answer is an energy mix — renewable, non-renewable, nuclear, bioethanol — and they credit the government for pushing several at once. The discipline is Ranjita's line, quoted back by Prajwal in team meetings: keep the main thing the main thing. The main thing is pollution and emissions coming down. Debates that insist only option A or only option B can win are, in their words, pointless, because they hinder progress.

▶ 29:00 ▶ 30:04 ▶ 31:06

A first-time OEM survives by choosing what not to build

Building an OEM from scratch is an expensive endeavour where costs get out of hand easily, so the in-house list is drawn from the mission rather than from ambition: how the vehicle behaves and moves (vehicle design and engineering), how it performs (the battery pack, its thermal management and power delivery) and the electronics around both. Tyres were never on the table — India has world-class suppliers, and about 85% of the bike is localised on the figure quoted on air. The one component they expect to stay imported longest is the cell, because a performance motorcycle needs cell technology that the local mass market has no reason to make.

▶ 11:27 ▶ 12:11 ▶ 13:35

Weight, not range, is the performance EV's real fight

The Mantis is claimed as the lightest electric motorcycle in its segment at 182 kg, where comparable electric bikes in India and abroad sit upwards of 200 kg and an equivalent petrol motorcycle lands around 175 kg. The gap is almost entirely the battery, which is why the engineering work the founders single out is making the pack lighter rather than bigger. Closing on the petrol bike's weight is what lets them claim street-bike ergonomics and accessibility rather than the committed posture of a sports machine.

▶ 15:57 ▶ 16:08 ▶ 16:35

Clean must not cost the rider their aspiration

India is one of the world's largest two-wheeler markets at roughly 20 million a year, two-thirds motorcycles, and inside that the 200-500cc early-performance band has grown every year since 2016 — a direct reading of an aspirational country. Ranjita's argument is that with millions about to buy the first vehicle their family has ever owned, two things are non-negotiable at once: the air they breathe, and the aspiration that vehicle represents. Just because you want to be clean does not mean you should have to go slow. That double constraint, not fuel ideology, is what selects the performance segment.

▶ 31:55 ▶ 32:26 ▶ 33:45

Second life comes before recycling

The founders' correction to the standard recycling conversation is sequencing: reuse first. An automotive pack that no longer suits a vehicle can still serve a stationary application, and that extended life cuts the battery's carbon footprint by more than 40% before any material is recovered. Recycling technology has meanwhile improved to the point where most of a cell's raw materials come back. Orxa says circularity is built into the design stage rather than bolted on, with a tie-up with the Indian second-life and recycling firm Nunam — and, given commuter and fleet electrification, a market the founders actively invite other startups to build in.

▶ 35:04 ▶ 35:18 ▶ 35:50

The bike is a motorcycle, not an iPhone on wheels

Connectivity is present — phone, app, servers, anonymised diagnostics with consent — but deliberately not in your face, and the founders will not ship a product that demands ten apps or a reordered life. The same restraint runs through data: collect nothing that identifies the rider, decline the telco and platform ecosystem pitches unless they add enormous value to the customer, and no connectivity for the sake of connectivity. It extends to the sale itself. Responsibility does not end at making a cool bike; it ends when the owner has ridden it for five years without hiccups, which is why next year's expansion waits on after-sales coverage and spares rather than racing ahead of them.

▶ 22:09 ▶ 43:29 ▶ 47:39

The numbers, drawn

What the episode measures

Every figure below was said on air — timestamps included, caveats kept.

Conversation share

portion of the hour spent on each theme

Mobility & EV26%

Deep tech & hardware18%

Manufacturing14%

Climate & energy12%

Founder journey11%

Product strategy9%

Computed from the chapter map of this episode.

The weight a performance EV has to beat

As stated in conversation: 182 kg for the Mantis, 'upwards of 200 kg' for comparable electric motorcycles in India and abroad (lower bound shown), and 'the upper side of 175 kg' for an equivalent IC-engine bike.▶ 16:08

How much of each two-wheeler segment goes electric

% of segment, within five years

Founders' estimates as stated on air — 70-80% of commuter and fleet two-wheelers, where the economics already work, against 20-30% of the performance segment in the next five years; upper bounds shown.▶ 37:19

Worth keeping

Lines that stay

If someone comes and tells me that something that's 200 km today is tomorrow going to become 500 km just by putting AI on it — that's a flat-out lie.

— Prajwal ▶ 41:55

Keep the main thing the main thing. We are talking about combating pollution, about keeping the climate clean — whether you get there by hydrogen, biofuels, electric or hybrid is not the point.

— Prajwal, quoting Ranjita ▶ 31:06

Just because you want to be clean doesn't mean I should go slow, that I should not meet my aspiration, that it should not reflect the lifestyle I want to choose.

— Ranjita ▶ 32:43

The Mantis has to fit in your life. You shouldn't have to switch your life around the Mantis.

— Prajwal ▶ 22:09

They come off the big bikes and say: I was an EV non-believer, and this bike has changed my mind.

— Ranjita, on track-day riders ▶ 23:16

Clips that travel

Short on time? Start here

First-time hardware founders weighing the leap

The fire-exit call from South Africa

The origin story without hedging: a resignation announced mid-audit, motors and battery packs already bought, and two hours to cover six kilometres as the reason it was worth it.

3:05 → 6:44 · 4 min ▶ Watch clip

Hardware founders drawing the make-or-buy line

What a first-time OEM refuses to outsource

Frugality as survival, the four things Orxa insists on keeping in house, and why the cell is the last component India will localise.

10:11 → 15:20 · 5 min ▶ Watch clip

Climate and energy investors

Ten axes of chemistry and the energy-mix argument

Why cell chemistry is not a two-variable choice, and the case for judging fuels by emissions rather than by tribal loyalty to a technology.

26:30 → 31:40 · 5 min ▶ Watch clip

Circular-economy and battery founders

Second life before recycling

The 40% footprint argument, an Indian second-life partner, and a market the founders openly hand to anyone listening.

34:50 → 37:40 · 3 min ▶ Watch clip

Anyone being pitched AI as a hardware fix

AI cannot argue with physics

The bluntest minutes in the episode: what AI genuinely does inside an EV company, and the claim they call a flat-out lie.

40:37 → 42:26 · 2 min ▶ Watch clip

Glossary

The jargon, unpacked

OEM

Original equipment manufacturer — the company that designs and builds the finished vehicle rather than supplying parts into someone else's, and, as the founders note, an expensive thing to become from scratch.

Cell vs battery pack

The cell is the electrochemical unit that stores energy; the pack is the engineered assembly of cells, cooling and electronics around it. Orxa builds the pack in house and buys cells, which is why cell sourcing is its hardest localisation problem.

Second life

Reusing an automotive battery in a less demanding stationary application after it leaves the vehicle, extending its working life before recycling and cutting its carbon footprint by more than 40%.

AUTOSAR

An automotive software standard for the middleware between a vehicle's hardware and its applications; Orxa says it built its own stack in house while adhering to — and where possible exceeding — the standards that apply.

OTA update

Software delivered to a vehicle over the air rather than at a service centre; Orxa deliberately pushes them rarely, arguing hardware needs stability more than release velocity.

Performance segment (200-500cc)

The aspirational middle of India's motorcycle market, between commuter bikes and superbikes, growing year on year since 2016 — the band the Mantis targets at a claimed 27-28 hp equivalent.

Localisation

The share of a vehicle sourced or manufactured domestically; Orxa put the Mantis at roughly 85% on the figure quoted in the conversation, with the cell the main remaining import.

Connections

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EP 109 · Deep tech

Full transcript

The whole conversation, searchable

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