Battery-swapping solutions start-up VoltUp has announced its partnership with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) in the opening of battery swapping solution centres. The partnership has unveiled 2 battery swapping stations in Jaipur. In their efforts to set up smart electric mobility stations across India for electric vehicles (EV), the partnership looks to opening 50 such battery swapping solutions centres across India in the next 6 months.
As per a statement released by the company, the lack of charging infrastructure, high cost of adoption and long charging time for Electric vehicles have been the hurdles and challenges towards the adoption of electric mobility in India. To plug these gaps, VoltUp and HPCL have come together towards setting and scaling up of infrastructure. With this tie-up, VoltUp aims at providing infrastructure for instant swapping to end consumers, last-mile delivery, shared mobility providers, OEM’s and logistic players with smart lithium-ion batteries in a connected environment-friendly manner. The partnership aims at leveraging the countrywide network of HPCL with the expertise of VoltUp in the field of Battery swapping technologies.
The swapping stations will be fire and safety compliant with wallet-based payment system thus eliminating challenges posed by the unauthorized charging stations, currently under operations. The service networks will provide complete maintenance and service support to all E-vehicles.
Siddharth Kabra, CEO VoltUp, said, “HPCL, an already active player in the EV segment, recognises the importance of swapping infrastructure in sync with their current model of instant fuelling. This clearly resonates with VoltUp’s business model of instant swap and pay as you go basis thus also addressing the challenge of the higher upfront cost of EV’s. VoltUp’s entire operations are backed with high-end tech stack providing real-time information and thus convenience and transparency to all stakeholders. With our deep understanding and expertise into solar, we intend to integrate green energy for charging batteries and thus providing a completely green solution to the EV industry.”
Rajnish Mehta, ED- CSP & BD, HPCL, said, “HPCL, being a conscious player in the energy sector wishes to leave no stone unturned to contribute in the clean energy transition and is very actively trying to promote e-mobility in every possible way by partnering with players like Voltup. There is an industry consensus that the Indian EV market will be dominated and driven by the 2-3-wheeler commercial segment. For this segment, battery swapping offers the best alternative to slow charging and helps the drivers to make optimum use of their operational hours.”
He added, “However, to make battery swap a successful, a dense and thick network is essential so that consumers feel confident about the availability of swaps. HPCL is doing its part in making this market thick on the supply side by means of its wide network of retail outlets which are the natural energy refuelling points for all consumers. I sincerely hope that with the association with Voltup and launch of the pilot, we will be able to develop a much deeper understanding of the market dynamics, the consumer and the business model.”
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Lithium batteries will be provided as a subscription to lower the initial investment in the E Vehicle. It offers battery swapping in a claimed time of fewer than 2 minutes through VoltUp’s dedicated network of charging zones. The smart stations are monitored via an Ops engine to maintain battery charging temperatures and cell balancing for higher efficiencies.
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