Lithium Urban Technologies And Fourth Partner Energy To Set Up Solar-Powered EV Charging Infrastructure Across India
India’s largest commercial EV fleet operator Lithium Urban Technologies today joined hands with renewable energy solutions provider Fourth Partner Energy to build charging infrastructure across the country. This equal partnership joint venture – Shuchi Anant Virya unveiled its first EV charging hub in Gurugram, capable of charging 25-30 vehicles simultaneously. The facility will be used initially to charge Lithium’s fleet to Wipro and American Express in Gurugram. The JV has also commissioned a second charging facility in Pune, Maharashtra.
In this JV, Fourth Partner Energy will provide a mix of onsite & offsite solar solutions to power Lithium’s fleet, while the latter will be the anchor client providing base demand across hubs. Fourth Partner has a pan-India portfolio of 370 MW of solar assets for clients like Coca Cola, Walmart, Schneider, Skoda, Ferrero, TCS and McDonalds. On the other hand, Lithium occupies the pole position in India’s EV growth story. The firm’s all-electric fleet of over 1,000 vehicles deployed across Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Jaipur caters to over 30 corporate clients keen on reducing their carbon footprint as well as their transportation costs –including Google, McKinsey, Credit Suisse and Barclays.
The JV has also commissioned its second charging hub in Pune. This Pune facility near Kharadi is one of India’s largest EV charging hubs for four-wheelers; and has the capacity to charge over 40 vehicles at a time. The plan for FY 21 is for Shuchi to add a couple of more charging hubs across Delhi-NCR, and at least one each in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Speaking at the inauguration of these charging hubs, Vivek Subramanian, Co-founder & ED at Fourth Partner Energy alluded to the synergies between EV and PV (Photovoltaic) being centred around a reduction in Carbon footprint. “The global transition to electric mobility can be considered truly green only when the increased demand for energy is met by clean, renewable sources – Shuchi was formed to address this opportunity.”
Vikash Mishra, Head of External Relations, Lithium Urban Technologies said, “Businesses are becoming increasingly conscious of better environmental practices. Solar-powered EV charging infrastructure will not just close the loop on procuring clean energy for electric vehicles but will also result in improved cost-efficiency. The domestic EV market is expected to grow by 35% annually till 2026 and fleet operators will be the first to embrace this change. Lithium is readying India for this future of shared, connected, electric mobility. With the help of Fourth Partner Energy, we are confident of enabling this transition in a zero-Carbon manner.”
The electric vehicle scenario in India is evolving with time. One of the oldest and major players in the Indian EV market, Hero electric has been playing an important role in the process. Hero Electric announced the opening of three new dealerships in the Bengaluru Area to further strengthen its presence in the city. The three new dealers – Jaideep Motors, Pulse Electrochem and VRS Motors – are 3S (sales, service and spare) equipped dealerships and has a team of well-trained and qualified professionals.
Commenting on this occasion, Mr. Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric said, “In-line with our commitment to providing the best EV products in the two-wheeler category across India, we have added two new state-of-the-art dealerships – Jaideep Motors, Pulse Electrochem and VRS Motors – in Bengaluru. Bengaluru is a very important market for us, from both a geographical and business point of view and we are confident that our partnership with the new dealerships will enable us to strengthen awareness around electric mobility and its benefits in the region. We take pride in our dealer network and will continue to strengthen it year by year and be present in the most interior parts of the country.”
Hero Electric is planning to take its total number of customer touchpoints across India to 1,000 by the end of 2020. To provide good sales and after-sales service, Hero Electric has made sure to train the crew employed at the dealerships. The purpose of this training was to help the sales team to understand and then educate customers on the benefits of lithium-ion offerings from Hero Electric. Some of the benefits include:
- High energy density – Electric vehicles need a battery technology that has a high energy density, providing 10 times longer life than other technologies and last longer.
- Self-discharge – Lithium-ion cells self-discharge rate is typically around 5% in the first 4 hours after being charged, which is much lower than that of other rechargeable making it quick and smooth.
- Low maintenance – One major lithium-ion battery advantage is that they do not require any maintenance to ensure their performance, making the scooters efficient.
To meet the increasing demands, Hero Electric has aggressive investment plans in the pipeline. They are looking forward to ramp up production capacity of its electric scooters to 5 lakh units annually.
Source: motoroids
