New Delhi: At the chaotic office of an EV charging station in Dwarka, the phone won’t stop ringing, the glass door keeps flapping, and people pour in like it’s a flash sale. Pre-owned BluSmart electric cars under Rs 3 lakh have become Delhi-NCR’s newest obsession.
It’s less a car sale, more a shaadi market, where every prospective car is sized up for flaws, age, and proof of past shenanigans. “Mileage kitna hai? Kitne saal ki hai? Accident toh nahi hua?”
Some customers arrive from as far as Patna, full of hope, only to be crushed by paperwork for no-objections certificates (NOCs). Others want cars in bulk, but wrinkle their noses at the scratches and worn seats.
The dealers juggle with calls, chai, and chaos, while handling buyers.
BluSmart’s sudden and swift closure in April due to a massive financial fraud has resulted in a flood of used EVs for sale. It has become an unlikely social media sensation. YouTube shorts and Instagram reels are full of creators documenting auctions and car lots, claiming that EVs once worth over Rs 10 lakh are now going for as little as Rs 50,000. These viral clips blend on-the-ground reviews, seller negotiations, and tours of worn-out ex-cabs, turning the fire sale into a public spectacle.
One jubilant customer filmed himself in a car lot, exclaiming that his friend had snagged a sweet deal of Rs 2.5 lakh: “Company band ho gai aur Tigor EV phutkar mein bech rahein hai”—the company shut and Tigor EVs are being flogged off for cheap.
Behind these viral videos is a new business model born out of exigency. Big leasing companies, private lenders, small fleet operators, and even rival taxi startups are repossessing or recalling their cars from BluSmart and offloading them en masse. Some have been absorbed by former rivals like Evera and Everest Fleet. Others are being snapped up by small operators, gig drivers, or eco-conscious buyers chasing a pollution-free “steal” for Delhi’s clean-air future.
However, though heavily discounted, most cars are priced closer to Rs 2.95 lakh—far from the Rs 50,000 “fire-sale” prices doing the rounds in some viral videos.
Thousands of EVs were left idle for months. We’ve carried out basic repairs and are helping their actual owners—the fleet financiers and lessors—resell them
-Surendra Yadav, owner of the Dwarka EV charging station
“Like everyone else, I came here after seeing YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, just to check if it was true that cars were being sold cheap. Some YouTubers were shooting videos here—I came after watching them too. But they said cars were selling for Rs 70,000, which was probably just clickbait,” said Prashant, a Delhi University student, who ended up making a purchase anyway.
Once heralded as India’s green mobility darlings, BluSmart’s co-founders—Anmol Singh Jaggi, Puneet Singh Jaggi, and Punit K Goyal—rewrote the rules of urban transport when they launched the company in 2019. Its all-electric cabs zipped across Delhi-NCR, cheered on by star investors and celebrities like Deepika Padukone. Much of BluSmart’s fleet had been financed through Gensol — another company owned by the Jaggis — which raised debt to buy EVs and then leased them back to the company. But as the company unravelled, lenders and lessors moved quickly, repossessing around 5,000 EVs out of a total fleet of 8,000, and offloading them into auctions and resale markets.
“Eight thousand cars may sound like a lot, but in a 42 lakh car market, it’s a blip,” said auto analyst Anurag Vijay. “The collapse just exposed loopholes that Gensol and BluSmart were exploiting.” He added that the resale rush was inevitable, since no company would take these vehicles back on lease or in bulk as they’ve already racked up significant mileage.
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Hype meets hard reality
Ashish Kumar, 46, came from his home in Paschim Vihar to Dwarka looking for a personal EV. The businessman carefully inspected one of the 20-25 showcased cars, walking around it and noting the dents, scratches, and worn-out seats. He shook his head regretfully.
“Looking at the condition here, the car doesn’t seem worth it. On YouTube, it looked so much better. I don’t think I want to buy this anymore,” he said, walking away.
To him, the price tag of Rs 2.95 lakh did not live up to the value-for-money hype on social media. The deal was the same for every car—all 2022 Tata Tigor EVs with odometers showing between 1.5 and 2 lakh kilometres. Haggling was not entertained.
Vishal Chauhan, a fleet operator from Laxmi Nagar in Delhi, planned to buy multiple vehicles but was plagued with similar doubts when he saw what was on sale.
“Looking at these cars, they don’t seem like something I should invest in. I could get a brand-new one financed for Rs 3 lakh. These have been completely worn down. And if I spend on maintenance now, what’s the point?”
This, however, was not a deal-breaker for Dibakar Bharadwaj, a lawyer, who bought a pre-owned BluSmart EV a month ago and now uses it for his office commute. A brand-new version of the same Tigor EV would have cost him around Rs 14 lakh. The BluSmart logo had already been removed when he bought it and it was good to go.
“The car is running really well. With just 10 per cent battery consumption, it gives me around 17 to 18 kilometres,” said Bharadwaj, who charges it either at home or at a nearby public station.
EVs depreciate faster than regular cars—and taxis even more so. These were high-mileage vehicles with heavy use, often not by owners. So if these cars are now being sold at very cheap prices, it’s a reflection of market reality
-Anurag Vijay, auto analyst
Many of these vehicles had sat unused for nearly four months after BluSmart shut operations. With third-party fleet operators refusing to lease high-mileage EVs, the company began selling them directly to the public — and in some cases, even to former drivers. Some were picked up by Delhi used-car dealers and resold through their own shops, while others landed in Gurugram.
“Thousands of EVs were left idle for months,” said Surendra Yadav, owner of the Dwarka EV charging station where most of the old BluSmart cars are now sold. “We’ve carried out basic repairs and are helping their actual owners—the fleet financiers and lessors—resell them.”
Many buyers kept pressing, hinting there might be better options tucked away out of sight, but Yadav’s wife Divya Sharma, who handles customer queries, disabused them firmly.
She gave the same answer each time. “These are the only cars we have, and they’re all in the same condition. Once fully charged, each will run about 135 km — take them wherever you want.”
Why used EVs come cheaper
For Prashant, the road to buying a used EV was full of twists and turns.
On his first visit to the Dwarka EV lot with friends, he left without buying.
“My friends told me, ‘If you spend a little more, you can get a proper car that will last a year. Don’t buy this one,’” the DU student recalled.
However, three days later, Prashant returned alone, this time after doing his homework. He had researched the second-hand market extensively, comparing prices, alternatives, and weighing his budget. It was enough to change his mind and he closed the deal.
“I just need a car for one or two years while I’m still in college. Since I’ll be driving mostly in Delhi, this makes sense,” he said. “Cars in my price range are usually older petrol vehicles with high maintenance costs. This electric car has lower running expenses. It may not be perfect, but it fits my needs and budget.”
EVs tend to lose value faster than petrol or diesel cars because of battery degradation, limited resale demand, technology obsolescence, and in this case, heavy commercial use.
“EVs depreciate faster than regular cars—and taxis even more so,” said Vijay. “These were high-mileage vehicles with heavy use, often not by owners. So if these cars are now being sold at very cheap prices, it’s a reflection of market reality.”
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Life and afterlife of BluSmart cars
Surendra Yadav and his wife Divya have been running on fumes for weeks. People constantly call with inquiries and their days are packed with bank visits to secure NOCs for clients’ cars. The moment someone walks in, they switch to autopilot, listing run-time, mileage, condition, and price.
Outside, their charging station is overflowing. EVs stand in silent rows, their headlights flickering to life as they sip power. Even their home next door has turned into a makeshift parking yard, every corner filled with cars waiting for a second lease of life. In the past month alone, they have sold more than 1,000 BluSmart EVs.
But Yadav’s journey with BluSmart didn’t begin here. In 2019, when Yadav was working as a strategy and marketing consultant, the Jaggi brothers approached him for help. This was before BluSmart had made a name in India’s EV space
“At that time, I provided them with consultancy — from licensing to location strategies and scaling plans. How to take BluSmart further in Delhi,” Yadav recalled.
Things were gaining momentum when COVID-19 hit and everything came to a grinding halt. Still, BluSmart didn’t fold. Gensol — a Gujarat-based renewable energy and EV solutions company founded by the Jaggi brothers in 2007— came to the rescue by raising loans, buying vehicles, and leasing them back to BluSmart. This allowed the company to keep adding cars even during the slowdown. Charging stations were built with capacity for hundreds of vehicles, and plans were made to expand internationally to Dubai.
From day one, Yadav said, the model was clear: it was a game of scale. BluSmart needed at least 500–700 cars running consistently to make the numbers work.
In its early days, BluSmart relied on a car lease model. This was mostly through Gensol, which purchased EVs from automakers like Mahindra and Tata Motors and leased them to BluSmart under multi-year agreements. This allowed BluSmart to scale its fleet and operations without heavy capital investment. As it grew, BluSmart diversified its leasing partners through the “Assure by BluSmart” programme through which partners—from individuals to family businesses to green finance institutions—could buy and lease EVs to the company.
Early believers like Deepika Padukone, MS Dhoni, and Sanjiv Bajaj took a leap of faith in BluSmart, and its growth soon attracted institutional investors. Financing partners like Mahindra Finance, ICICI, and HDFC Bank backed its fleet expansion through leasing arrangements. In 2023, the Power Finance Corporation extended a Rs 633 crore loan to Gensol for BluSmart’s EVs
To streamline operations, BluSmart organised its business into different arms: BluSmart Mobility (fleet operations), BluSmart Charge (infrastructure), and BluSmart Mobility Tech (app and payments), according to Yadav.
Then came the collapse. Earlier this year, SEBI accused Gensol and the Jaggi brothers of diverting Rs 262 crore of loans meant for BluSmart’s EV fleet, including for personal luxuries. Lenders began recovery proceedings. Lessors such as the financial services company Orix moved the Delhi High Court. The cracks could no longer be papered over, and BluSmart halted operations.
Thousands of EVs were repossessed and left standing idle in yards. No fleet operator wanted high-mileage ex-taxis, and resale networks didn’t exist for electric cabs. That’s when some companies that had once leased cars to BluSmart approached Yadav for his help to sell them. He had the land, the infrastructure, and the local contacts to find a market.
Yadav agreed though he is quick to point out that his business has got nothing to do with BluSmart.
“This charging station was entirely my property,” he said. “The infrastructure was mine. The chargers are rented from companies like Statiq Air.”
Now, Yadav and his wife have found themselves as accidental brokers in one of the strangest resale markets India has seen.
At their Dwarka office, the phones continue to ring in a discordant symphony. A man complains about a scratch on the door. Sharma barely looks up before repeating the same line she has said a hundred times that day: “Sir, this is what’s available. No bargaining. No returns. Take it or leave it.”
Outside, rows of once high-tech taxis, their logos half-peeled but batteries charged, wait for their second shot.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)