Evolving Charging Infra in India
Electric mobility (e-mobility) sector in India is categorized by the availability of Electric Vehicles (EVs) on the supply side and adoption trends on the demand side. Adequate charging infrastructure is the key prerequisite that will define the adoption trends of EVs in India. EVs carry limited onboard energy in the battery packs which need charging from time to time depending upon the battery pack, size, and capacity. Charging systems are therefore essential for sustainable operation of EVs.
The charging requirement depends not only on the kind of vehicle (two-wheeler, three-wheeler, four-wheeler, and bus) but also on the utility purpose i.e. passenger or commercial.
The Government of India has set a target to electrify 70% of all commercial vehicles, 30% of private cars, 40% of buses, and 80% of two wheeler and three wheeler sales by 2030. This target entails simultaneous penetration of charging stations across India.
The Government of India has been supporting the EV industry through schemes such as FAME1 and FAME2 with a major focus on charging infrastructure. The industry players too have been quite optimistic and shown an active interest in the overall EV Charging ecosystem. While EVs are being worked upon by major OEMs, an ecosystem for the development of chargers, charging stations, and other services is steadily being built.
The charging requirement depends not only on the kind of vehicle (two-wheeler, three-wheeler, four-wheeler, and bus) but also on the utility purpose i.e. passenger or commercial.
The Government of India has set a target to electrify 70% of all commercial vehicles, 30% of private cars, 40% of buses, and 80% of two wheeler and three wheeler sales by 2030. This target entails simultaneous penetration of charging stations across India.
The Government of India has been supporting the EV industry through schemes such as FAME1 and FAME2 with a major focus on charging infrastructure. The industry players too have been quite optimistic and shown an active interest in the overall EV Charging ecosystem. While EVs are being worked upon by major OEMs, an ecosystem for the development of chargers, charging stations, and other services is steadily being built.
Components of EV Charging Infra
Setting up of charging infrastructure i.e charging station requires
a) Hardware (charger/EVSE)
b) Software (Central Management System/mobile app)
c) Service (maintenance of charging stations and other hardware/software)
An EV Charging Infrastructure, in essence, includes the following:
a) Hardware (charger/EVSE)
b) Software (Central Management System/mobile app)
c) Service (maintenance of charging stations and other hardware/software)
An EV Charging Infrastructure, in essence, includes the following:
- Charging station that contains several EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment)/charge points. So, a charge point can be considered as equivalent to a refuelling hose of a gas station/petrol pump. A charge point in turn contains several connectors/outlets; however, per charge point, not more than one connector can be active at a time. This connector, through which the electricity is delivered, can be a socket or even a cable. A charger is then connected to one of these connectors' basic requirement which then goes directly to the vehicle’s socket.
- Central Management System (CMS) is a cloud-based backend system managed by the company operating the charging station. The CMS manages user authorization, billing, and rate of charging.
- Mobile Application enables end-users in finding nearest charging stations, reserving a charging slot, and paying. Digital infrastructure availability in the form of charging location finders, IoT infrastructure for multiple cars, online charging reservation platforms, and online payment platforms completes the value chain of charging infrastructure efficiently.
Efforts of Govt. bodies towards Charging Infra
As a part of the larger EV adoption push, different aspects of EVSE deployment—standards, incentives, adoption and execution—have been entrusted to different government entities.
i) Department of Heavy Industries (DHI)
a) Overseeing the second phase of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME II) in India.
b) Circulated an expression of interest (EOI) inviting proposals for availing incentives under FAME II for deployment of EV charging infrastructure.
ii) Ministry of Power (MoP)
a) Issued “Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles—Guidelines and Standards”
b) Charging of EVs to be considered a service and not a sale of electricity.
iii) Department of Science and Technology (DST) & Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
a) BIS and DST are working together on indigenous charging standards.
b) DST is supporting industry-academia collaborations to develop indigenous low-cost chargers.
iv) Central Electricity Authority (CEA)
CEA is entrusted for the creation and maintenance of a national database of all public charging stations working with both state and national nodal agencies.
v) Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
BEE to is the central nodal agency for rollout of EV public charging infrastructure as MoP’s guidelines
vi) State Discoms
State Discoms are the default nodal agencies at the state level unless a state government deems in favour of other urban local bodies or public sector units.
vii) GST Council
Tax reduction on charger or charging stations for EVs from 18% to 5% (with effect from 1 August, 2019).
viii) Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)
A JV under MoP, EESL has been actively installing public charging stations in Delhi.
i) Department of Heavy Industries (DHI)
a) Overseeing the second phase of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME II) in India.
b) Circulated an expression of interest (EOI) inviting proposals for availing incentives under FAME II for deployment of EV charging infrastructure.
ii) Ministry of Power (MoP)
a) Issued “Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles—Guidelines and Standards”
b) Charging of EVs to be considered a service and not a sale of electricity.
iii) Department of Science and Technology (DST) & Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
a) BIS and DST are working together on indigenous charging standards.
b) DST is supporting industry-academia collaborations to develop indigenous low-cost chargers.
iv) Central Electricity Authority (CEA)
CEA is entrusted for the creation and maintenance of a national database of all public charging stations working with both state and national nodal agencies.
v) Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
BEE to is the central nodal agency for rollout of EV public charging infrastructure as MoP’s guidelines
vi) State Discoms
State Discoms are the default nodal agencies at the state level unless a state government deems in favour of other urban local bodies or public sector units.
vii) GST Council
Tax reduction on charger or charging stations for EVs from 18% to 5% (with effect from 1 August, 2019).
viii) Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)
A JV under MoP, EESL has been actively installing public charging stations in Delhi.
EESL’s experience in rolling out public charging stations in Delhi
Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has been at the forefront of the EV charging roll-out in India. It developed this in partnership with USAID’s SPARC Program. In 2019 EESL initiated a large-scale deployment of public charging stations, with its role as the owner and operator, in New Delhi within the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area. This area was selected on the basis of high traffic and footfall, ease of coordination, and complementarity with the national smart cities mission.
Perhaps the most important aspect has been the MoU with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) which has a role as both land owner and power discom. EESL created value for NDMC through additional revenue streams from real estate rental as well as an EV tariff, through increased EV adoption in its area which will lead to improved local air quality, and through potential for load management for its role as discom. For EESL, beyond ease of coordination, this partnership allows for suitable guidance on siting to maximize asset utilization over time. An energy based rental in the form of revenue sharing was designed in a manner which benefited both EESL and NDMC.
EESL’s experience with demand aggregation and synergies in this existing program is helping bring down the per unit cost of EVSE by 15–20%. EESL is also exploring low cost financing from multilateral banks such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.
Perhaps the most important aspect has been the MoU with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) which has a role as both land owner and power discom. EESL created value for NDMC through additional revenue streams from real estate rental as well as an EV tariff, through increased EV adoption in its area which will lead to improved local air quality, and through potential for load management for its role as discom. For EESL, beyond ease of coordination, this partnership allows for suitable guidance on siting to maximize asset utilization over time. An energy based rental in the form of revenue sharing was designed in a manner which benefited both EESL and NDMC.
EESL’s experience with demand aggregation and synergies in this existing program is helping bring down the per unit cost of EVSE by 15–20%. EESL is also exploring low cost financing from multilateral banks such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.
Existing networks of CPOs (Charging Point Operators) 1/3
The Charge Point Operators (CPOs) currently have the ownership of the charging infrastructure they operate, and they follow a Pay per Use model with different variants for revenue-realization. Online mapping of these CPOs through smart-phones makes it convenient for EV owners to make digital payments along with checking location, availability of chargers along with their type.
While EESL stands out in the race of establishing CPOs, owing to its bagging of all the major contracts under FAME I scheme and being a public entity, private players like TATA Power are also doing exceptionally well.
EESL:
It is a JV of 4 PSUs - Power Finance Corp. Ltd., NTPC Ltd., POWERGRID Corp. of India, REC Ltd.; formed to offer renewable energy services. Services offered include procuring EVs for deployment in Government Departments and Ministries and setting up charging infrastructure
Charging Segment: Public and Captive Charging
Charger Type: DC-001/AC-001
Clients: NDMC Delhi, CMRL Chennai, Maha Metro Nagpur, Noida Authority, SDMC Delhi, Naya Raipur Development Authority, NKDA Kolkata
Charge points Installed: 1200
REIL
A joint venture (JV) between the Government of India & the Government of Rajasthan, it is one of the leading state-held players in the EV charging infrastructure space.
Charge points Installed: 800
While EESL stands out in the race of establishing CPOs, owing to its bagging of all the major contracts under FAME I scheme and being a public entity, private players like TATA Power are also doing exceptionally well.
EESL:
It is a JV of 4 PSUs - Power Finance Corp. Ltd., NTPC Ltd., POWERGRID Corp. of India, REC Ltd.; formed to offer renewable energy services. Services offered include procuring EVs for deployment in Government Departments and Ministries and setting up charging infrastructure
Charging Segment: Public and Captive Charging
Charger Type: DC-001/AC-001
Clients: NDMC Delhi, CMRL Chennai, Maha Metro Nagpur, Noida Authority, SDMC Delhi, Naya Raipur Development Authority, NKDA Kolkata
Charge points Installed: 1200
REIL
A joint venture (JV) between the Government of India & the Government of Rajasthan, it is one of the leading state-held players in the EV charging infrastructure space.
Charge points Installed: 800
Existing networks of CPOs (2/3)
Tata Power Solar
TATA Power is operational in the entire value chain of conventional & renewable energy. It offers end- end customized solutions for EV charging including EV Chargers of different charging standards, Backend Power Infrastructure, Charger Installation, Charger Management Software Platform Subscription, Annual Maintenance, and Mobile App.
Charging Segment: Public Charging
Charger Type: AC/DC (7 kW to 50 kW); CCS2 standard
Clients: Prakriti E-Mobility Private Limited, MG Motor India, TATA Motors, Jaguar Land Rover (India)
Charge points Installed: 300
EVI Technologies
EVI Technologies, a startup incubated in June 2017, at the government-funded Electropreneur Park in Delhi. EVIT offers its charging stations on lease for private users. It offers two products—a battery for e-2W and e-3W and a charging point which can be set up at both public places and homes. EVIT has developed VCube EV Charging Station capable of charging EVs in less than 80 minutes. The Company won orders for 50 charging stations from EESL in December 2017.
Charger Type: AC (slow) – AC Type 2 Charger and AC-001 Charger; DC (fast) – Li-ion charger for e-3W and DC-001 Charger; Battery Swapping
Locations: 16 different locations in 10 states
Charge points Installed: 215
Charge + Zone
It is a Vadodara-based start-up, part of TecSo Global group, and operational since 2018; It received pre-Series A Funding of USD 3 Million in November, 2020. The Company recently acquired the battery swapping stations of OlaElectric.
Charger Type: Type 2 Fast DC and Fast CCS2 150 kW DC (for electric bus)
Clients: Ashok Leyland, EEE-Taxi, Shuttl, SmartE, BluSmart, Bajaj Auto
Charge points Installed: 210+
TATA Power is operational in the entire value chain of conventional & renewable energy. It offers end- end customized solutions for EV charging including EV Chargers of different charging standards, Backend Power Infrastructure, Charger Installation, Charger Management Software Platform Subscription, Annual Maintenance, and Mobile App.
Charging Segment: Public Charging
Charger Type: AC/DC (7 kW to 50 kW); CCS2 standard
Clients: Prakriti E-Mobility Private Limited, MG Motor India, TATA Motors, Jaguar Land Rover (India)
Charge points Installed: 300
EVI Technologies
EVI Technologies, a startup incubated in June 2017, at the government-funded Electropreneur Park in Delhi. EVIT offers its charging stations on lease for private users. It offers two products—a battery for e-2W and e-3W and a charging point which can be set up at both public places and homes. EVIT has developed VCube EV Charging Station capable of charging EVs in less than 80 minutes. The Company won orders for 50 charging stations from EESL in December 2017.
Charger Type: AC (slow) – AC Type 2 Charger and AC-001 Charger; DC (fast) – Li-ion charger for e-3W and DC-001 Charger; Battery Swapping
Locations: 16 different locations in 10 states
Charge points Installed: 215
Charge + Zone
It is a Vadodara-based start-up, part of TecSo Global group, and operational since 2018; It received pre-Series A Funding of USD 3 Million in November, 2020. The Company recently acquired the battery swapping stations of OlaElectric.
Charger Type: Type 2 Fast DC and Fast CCS2 150 kW DC (for electric bus)
Clients: Ashok Leyland, EEE-Taxi, Shuttl, SmartE, BluSmart, Bajaj Auto
Charge points Installed: 210+
Existing networks of CPOs (3/3)
Volttic
Noida-based Volttic, a trademark product of Tvesas Electric Solutions Pvt. Ltd., offers EV Charging Services including EV Charging Stations and Cloud-based Charger management system. The Company’s core business is EV charging (commercial charging and home charging) where it entered in the year 2017.
Commercial Charging: The primary clientele here includes fleet operators especially employee transporters that offer fleet services to Companies like Fidelity, Infosys, and Wipro.
Home charging: Volttic doesn’t own the set-up here and only sell out the required infrastructure.
Location: The Company has pan-India presence in metro cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad , Bangalore, and Chennai. Volttic chargers are currently operating at corporate offices of Infosys, Mckinsey, Fidelity ,HP Computing, TESCO, JP Morgan, and Amazon along with having public installations at Indore,Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurugram.
Vehicle-Type: Volttic solutions support all types of EVs - 2W, 3W, 4W, and electric buses. Volttic chargers range from 3.3 kW to 22 kW on AC side whereas DC fast charger ranges from 15 kW to 150 kW.
Order Value: Volttic already boasts of orders worth ~USD 1 Million. The company is planning to deploy 25,000+ fast charge points by 2025 across Indian cities.
Charge points Installed: 190+
Fortum: Charge & Drive
It is a subsidiary of Finland-based clean-energy Company, Fortum and has been in operation since the end of 2017.
Vehicle Type and Locations: The Company offers public charging specifically for e-4W and fleet operators and operates in 7 Indian cities as of now.
Charger Type: Primarily fast dc charging points (DC-001) followed by CHAdeMO and CCS
Clients: MG (Morris Garages) Motor India, Indian Oil, Hyderabad Metro, GoMechanic
Diversification Plans: The Company has plans to come up with ~250-300 charge points every year. Itis working with Swedish light EV manufacturer Clean Motion to jointly develop a battery swap system tailored specially for light EVs – taxis – such a station is already installed at DLF Mall of India, Noida.
Charge points Installed: 100
Noida-based Volttic, a trademark product of Tvesas Electric Solutions Pvt. Ltd., offers EV Charging Services including EV Charging Stations and Cloud-based Charger management system. The Company’s core business is EV charging (commercial charging and home charging) where it entered in the year 2017.
Commercial Charging: The primary clientele here includes fleet operators especially employee transporters that offer fleet services to Companies like Fidelity, Infosys, and Wipro.
Home charging: Volttic doesn’t own the set-up here and only sell out the required infrastructure.
Location: The Company has pan-India presence in metro cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad , Bangalore, and Chennai. Volttic chargers are currently operating at corporate offices of Infosys, Mckinsey, Fidelity ,HP Computing, TESCO, JP Morgan, and Amazon along with having public installations at Indore,Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurugram.
Vehicle-Type: Volttic solutions support all types of EVs - 2W, 3W, 4W, and electric buses. Volttic chargers range from 3.3 kW to 22 kW on AC side whereas DC fast charger ranges from 15 kW to 150 kW.
Order Value: Volttic already boasts of orders worth ~USD 1 Million. The company is planning to deploy 25,000+ fast charge points by 2025 across Indian cities.
Charge points Installed: 190+
Fortum: Charge & Drive
It is a subsidiary of Finland-based clean-energy Company, Fortum and has been in operation since the end of 2017.
Vehicle Type and Locations: The Company offers public charging specifically for e-4W and fleet operators and operates in 7 Indian cities as of now.
Charger Type: Primarily fast dc charging points (DC-001) followed by CHAdeMO and CCS
Clients: MG (Morris Garages) Motor India, Indian Oil, Hyderabad Metro, GoMechanic
Diversification Plans: The Company has plans to come up with ~250-300 charge points every year. Itis working with Swedish light EV manufacturer Clean Motion to jointly develop a battery swap system tailored specially for light EVs – taxis – such a station is already installed at DLF Mall of India, Noida.
Charge points Installed: 100
Charger OEMS (1/2)
Delta Electronics
Delta Electronics India, part of Taiwan based Delta Group and a subsidiary of Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL, has been operating in India, since 2003 as a Power and Energy management company with focus on Power Electronics, Automation, and Infrastructure.
The EV Charging Solutions offered by the Company include AC EV charger, DC quick charger, and Site Management System. AC and DC EV Chargers start from 3.3 kW up to 150 kW
Cliets: Maharashtra Mantralaya, EESL, NTPC, PowerGrid, Cooperation Delhi, SDMC Office, Gujarat Bhavan Delhi, Ministry of Health
Charging points installed:
Established 700 chargers as of December, 2019.
Under EESL tender, as of 2019, BHEL and Delta had to supply 100 DC chargers
Exicom Tele-Systems
Exicom, founded in 1994, is operational in 3 key business areas of storage, telecom, and green mobility. The Company established new BUs of EV Battery and EV Chargers in 2018. The EV charging product portfolio of Exicom includes Bharat EV DC Charger 15kW/ 20kW; Bharat EV AC Charger 9.9kW; Type 2 AC Charger 7.5kW/ 11kW/ 22kW; and Harmony - Fast combined AC & DC Charger. The Company offers complete range of EV charging solutions including AC, low and high voltage DC fast chargers, and portable chargers.
Clients: EESL, REIL, NTPC
Installations:
Installed 125 chargers as of January, 2018.
Delta Electronics India, part of Taiwan based Delta Group and a subsidiary of Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL, has been operating in India, since 2003 as a Power and Energy management company with focus on Power Electronics, Automation, and Infrastructure.
The EV Charging Solutions offered by the Company include AC EV charger, DC quick charger, and Site Management System. AC and DC EV Chargers start from 3.3 kW up to 150 kW
Cliets: Maharashtra Mantralaya, EESL, NTPC, PowerGrid, Cooperation Delhi, SDMC Office, Gujarat Bhavan Delhi, Ministry of Health
Charging points installed:
Established 700 chargers as of December, 2019.
Under EESL tender, as of 2019, BHEL and Delta had to supply 100 DC chargers
Exicom Tele-Systems
Exicom, founded in 1994, is operational in 3 key business areas of storage, telecom, and green mobility. The Company established new BUs of EV Battery and EV Chargers in 2018. The EV charging product portfolio of Exicom includes Bharat EV DC Charger 15kW/ 20kW; Bharat EV AC Charger 9.9kW; Type 2 AC Charger 7.5kW/ 11kW/ 22kW; and Harmony - Fast combined AC & DC Charger. The Company offers complete range of EV charging solutions including AC, low and high voltage DC fast chargers, and portable chargers.
Clients: EESL, REIL, NTPC
Installations:
Installed 125 chargers as of January, 2018.
- Won EESL tender in May, 2018 to supply 100 DC fast chargers of 15kW & 1,080 AC chargers of 3.3kW
- Won EESL tender in November 2019, for 200 122-150 kW CCS/ CHAdeMO/Type 2 AC PCS fast chargers.
- Won NTPC tender in August 2018 for development of EV DC charging infrastructure consisting of 120 kW and 50 kW CCS chargers for e-buses at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
Charger OEMS(2/2)
ABB
Betting big on the EV market in India and ABB is considering locally manufacturing EV charging equipment out of its Bangalore facility. ABB has tied up with local partners to offer public charging stations across Ludhiana, Delhi, Chennai, Coimbatore, Nagpur. ABB India
manufactures chargers for passenger cars as well as buses.
Clients: EV Motors India
Installed ~10 chargers as of now
It installed its first EV charger (ABB Terra 53, a 50kw fast charging station) in India at the NITI Aayog building in Delhi in February, 2018.
Okaya Power Pvt. Ltd
Okaya is a leading player in the Indian Battery Manufacturing Industry. The diverse product portfolio of the Company includes Tubular
Battery- Inverter Battery and Solar Battery,E-Rickshaw Battery, as well as Lithium and EV charging solutions. The Company offers AC/DC
chargers as well as off-board AC charger for use at residential locations and offices for personal use.
Clients : REIL EESL
Installations:
Betting big on the EV market in India and ABB is considering locally manufacturing EV charging equipment out of its Bangalore facility. ABB has tied up with local partners to offer public charging stations across Ludhiana, Delhi, Chennai, Coimbatore, Nagpur. ABB India
manufactures chargers for passenger cars as well as buses.
Clients: EV Motors India
Installed ~10 chargers as of now
It installed its first EV charger (ABB Terra 53, a 50kw fast charging station) in India at the NITI Aayog building in Delhi in February, 2018.
Okaya Power Pvt. Ltd
Okaya is a leading player in the Indian Battery Manufacturing Industry. The diverse product portfolio of the Company includes Tubular
Battery- Inverter Battery and Solar Battery,E-Rickshaw Battery, as well as Lithium and EV charging solutions. The Company offers AC/DC
chargers as well as off-board AC charger for use at residential locations and offices for personal use.
Clients : REIL EESL
Installations:
- Bagged contracts for 5,264 charging stations in November, 2020 and January, 2021 alone.
- Contract from Power Grid, for 55 Multi-Standard EV charger (100 kW) in Shillong, Meghalaya and of 200 multi-standard EV chargers between 122-150 kW, 10kW AC slow chargers and 15kW DC fast chargers in November, 2019.
- It has over 10,000 charger installation orders and had completed over 500 till November, 2020.
Start ups building Charging Infrastructure
Ola Electric
Ola Electric recently announced a massive charging network exclusively for electric two-wheelers called the Ola Hypercharger Network. The charging network is for its upcoming electric two-wheelers; the first of which will be a scooter to be launched in a few months. Claimed to be the world’s largest electric two-wheeler charging network, the Hypercharger will be spread over 400 cities with more than 1 lakh charging points.
The Hypercharger will also be the fastest two-wheeler charging network. The Ola Scooter, for instance, can be charged 50% in 18 minutes for a 75-km range. These chargers will be installed in city centres and dense business districts, as well as in malls, IT parks, office complexes, cafes, and so on. But Ola is not the sole EV maker investing in Electric Chargers.
Charzer
Charzer is a start-up founded in Bengaluru that provides portable Kirana chargers of 3.3 kV for malls, societies, small shop owners, restaurants, etc., at a reasonable price of Rs. 15,000/- only. The Founders put forward their plan and prototype at an event – MOVE (Mobility Re-imagined). The start-up not only generated a stupendous response but also procured more than 200 pre-orders for Kirana Charzer.
Ather Grid
Apart from the electric two-wheeler Ather Energy has been building, they also have Ather Grid – a fast public charging network, designed and built in India. With more than 130 charging stations across India, Ather Grid is one of the largest fast-charging networks for electric vehicles in the country. The Ather Grid is supported by the Ather Grid app which allows all EV owners to directly ascertain available and unavailable locations on the home screen.
The application also has filters and information related to 4+wheeler friendly locations, availability of free and paid parking, location timings and more. Ather’s charging systems have been designed as an integrated ecosystem - which includes power authentication, real time monitoring via the vehicle and the Ather mobile app. Charging is free across Ather Grid till September 2021.
Ola Electric recently announced a massive charging network exclusively for electric two-wheelers called the Ola Hypercharger Network. The charging network is for its upcoming electric two-wheelers; the first of which will be a scooter to be launched in a few months. Claimed to be the world’s largest electric two-wheeler charging network, the Hypercharger will be spread over 400 cities with more than 1 lakh charging points.
The Hypercharger will also be the fastest two-wheeler charging network. The Ola Scooter, for instance, can be charged 50% in 18 minutes for a 75-km range. These chargers will be installed in city centres and dense business districts, as well as in malls, IT parks, office complexes, cafes, and so on. But Ola is not the sole EV maker investing in Electric Chargers.
Charzer
Charzer is a start-up founded in Bengaluru that provides portable Kirana chargers of 3.3 kV for malls, societies, small shop owners, restaurants, etc., at a reasonable price of Rs. 15,000/- only. The Founders put forward their plan and prototype at an event – MOVE (Mobility Re-imagined). The start-up not only generated a stupendous response but also procured more than 200 pre-orders for Kirana Charzer.
Ather Grid
Apart from the electric two-wheeler Ather Energy has been building, they also have Ather Grid – a fast public charging network, designed and built in India. With more than 130 charging stations across India, Ather Grid is one of the largest fast-charging networks for electric vehicles in the country. The Ather Grid is supported by the Ather Grid app which allows all EV owners to directly ascertain available and unavailable locations on the home screen.
The application also has filters and information related to 4+wheeler friendly locations, availability of free and paid parking, location timings and more. Ather’s charging systems have been designed as an integrated ecosystem - which includes power authentication, real time monitoring via the vehicle and the Ather mobile app. Charging is free across Ather Grid till September 2021.
