Reva creator Chetan Maini launches first battery swapping platform in India

After giving India its first electric car Reva, the Maini's of Bangalore on Tuesday launched the country's first swappable battery platform for electric two and three wheelers in the country.

Led by Chetan Maini, who developed the Reva, and Uday Khemka, the Vice Chairman of the SUN Group, the platform works across various two and three-wheeler vehicles. It comprises of modular smart batteries that are intelligent enough to customise themselves to each vehicle type and versatile enough to be used in combinations of one or multiple batteries. They can quickly interchange stations that can be easily installed across a city, enabling swapping of batteries in less than one minute and have a smart network that connects these batteries and interchange stations and allows customers to locate stations and make payments via an app.

"With over 18 million two wheelers and three wheelers sold in the country last year, we have introduced the world's first interoperable solutions for electric two and three wheelers that will transform the way people commute." said Chetan Maini, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of SUN Mobility. "SUN Mobility is enabling the electric mobility ecosystem in the country by offering solutions that are convenient, cost-effective and scalable."

Maini claims his platform would enable electric two and three wheelers to be cost neutral versus conventional diesel/petrol ones. While electric vehicles offer much lower cost of running and maintenance over conventional fossil fuel powered vehicles, they are still significantly more expensive due to higher cost of lithium ion batteries.
 
Further, lack of charging infrastructure is one of the main reasons for the handicapped growth in the segment.
 
In 2016-17, just 22,000 EVs were sold in India, the majority of them two and three wheelers. The Indian government has been pushing for electrification of the transport industry in the country not only to bring down the oil import bill--India imports 80 per cent of its crude oil requirement every year, but also to improve the quality of air in the cities. As per a WHO report, India accounts for half of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world.

A NITI Aayog and Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute report on electric vehicles released last year talked about a reduction of 156 million tonne of oil equivalent (mtoe) worth Rs 3.9 lakh crore if its target of electric vehicles accounting for 40 per cent of two wheelers, cars and SUVs and 100 per cent of all commercial vehicles and three wheelers is achieved. It had also suggested swapping batteries as an alternative to charging, a concept that has been tried with a degree of success with buses in China, the world's largest EV market. It has also been successful with two wheelers that use smaller and lighter batteries.

SUN mobility is hoping to replicate this success in India. It says it will offer its platform in collaboration with multiple OEMs and solution providers and will support a range of new models as well as retro-fit applications. The company plans to roll out this network of quick interchange stations in a phased manner across various major cities, thus enabling customers to adopt electric mobility using an innovative pay-per-use model that reduces not only their initial cost of purchase but also overall operating cost.   
 
"As we move forward on our global mission to enable mass transportation fueled by clean electric energy, we're happy to showcase the diverse technology portfolio that can redefine the future of mobility," said Uday Khemka, Co-founder and Vice Chairman, SUN Mobility. "By enabling the electrification of two wheelers, three wheelers and buses through our comprehensive smart mobility ecosystem, we are addressing the current urban mobility crisis and consciously exploring solutions to change the way the world commutes."