New Delhi: EV charging infrastructure player ChargeZone is planning to tie up with major automakers of India to boost EV infrastructure country-wide.
Kartikey Hariyani, Founder & CEO of ChargeZone told ETAuto that the company will be signing an MoU with Tata Motors, Volvo-Eicher, Ashok Leyland, and Maruti Suzuki soon. Talking about an agreement with Tata Motors, the founder said that in the coming few weeks the announcement will be made by the company (Tata Motors) itself for both PV and MHCVs.
Gujarat-based start-up on Thursday collaborated with MG Motors to strengthen the EV infrastructure in India. It has collaborated with several top OEMs like Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, Kia Motors, and Audi in the past.
The partnership with OEMs helps electric vehicle owners access public charging infrastructure, and it would aid in energy storage for automotive consumers. For this, the company has initiated another funding round, “USD 50 million round was announced a couple of quarters ago and we have just initiated a new round, which is USD 125 million and we plan to complete the race by next summer,” he added.
ChargeZone provides charging points for both passenger vehicles (PVs) and MHCVs. Talking about the energy difference between the two Hariyani said, “In case of electric buses and electric trucks, you require superchargers, and the ratings of the charges generally are 180 kilowatt while those in case of electric cars, it’s ranging from 30 – 60 kilowatt.”
The company’s new electric mobility platform called Billion Electric is collaborating with Ashok Leyland for the deployment of electric trucks for mid-mile mobility. Mid-mile mobility ranges normally up to 500 km. The news about collaboration will be out by the end of this year.
There are certain challenges to building a good EV infrastructure scenario in India. Hariyani said, “Locations, getting enough electrical load at a particular site, reliability on the highways” are the challenges that are not confined to India but worldwide.
”We have provided Charge Cloud as a technology to ADNOC Abu Dhabi National Corporation.” he said when talking about the expansion of ChargeZone. ADNOC is one of the largest oil and gas giants in the Middle East.
The company has a proprietary technology known as Charge+ Cloud, an operating system to operate the charges. It’s a technology that makes the charging experience completely seamless and unmanned, the company said.
