New Delhi: Kia India, one of the country’s leading premium carmakers, unveiled K-Charge — an innovative initiative in the ‘MyKia’ app that allows users to discover over 1000 EV charging stations nationwide.
In one of the industry-first moves, Kia is extending access to this charging network to non-Kia customers, providing valuable assistance to Indian EV users in overcoming Range Anxiety. This strategic move reflects Kia’s commitment to enhance customer services by consolidating various functions into one user-friendly smartphone app.
Collaboration with 5 charging point operators (CPOs), Statiq, ChargeZone, Relux Electric, Lion Charge, and E-Fill, to enable this initiative. Kia India has also done a special tie-up with Relux Electric to offer its customers 3 months of free charging through its charging stations.
The onboarded CPOs are the pioneers in the EV charging industry, providing adequate networks, global best practices, and safety protocols. Integrating these CPOs on the ‘MyKia’ app is done by NumoCity Technologies – one of the leaders in CMS services.
The new features offer additional convenience to EV users through deeper technology integration, empowering them to seamlessly access a wide range of EV services right at their fingertips. The users can view and locate the charging station through an interactive map of the Made-in India map service provider – Map My India.
Through K-Charge, customers can check the availability of charging slots, locate one based on their preferences and even pay through the same platform using the wallet service within the app. The array of user-friendly functionalities not only simplifies EV charging but also removes the need to rely on multiple external applications, demonstrating Kia’s vision of embracing technology to improve the vehicle ownership experience, the company said in a media release.
Hardeep Singh Brar, National Head of Sales and Marketing, Kia India, said, “K-Charge is not just a convenience initiative for our customers but a step towards making sustainable mobility convenient and accessible for everyone. We strongly believe that the technology transition towards a complete EV future ought to be smooth, and the K-Charge, integrated into the ‘MyKia’ app, is a well-thought-out step in that direction. With this aim, we will continue our efforts towards expanding the charging network through the onboarding of new CPOs in the future. We are confident that seamless, user-friendly solutions like these will play a pivotal role in accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles in India.”
Through its newly introduced vision – ‘EV for All’, which encompasses the K-Charge initiative, Kia aims to achieve an annual sales target of one million EVs by 2026 and expand that to 1.6 million units annually by 2030 aided by the launch of various long-range BEVs. In India, Kia has already shared its EV strategy, which lays out the launch of global EV models in India along with a locally manufactured EV in the RV body style by 2030, the release added.
