Leading CNG distributor IGL on Wednesday announced that it has collaborated with Kinetic Green to launch its first two battery-swapping stations in Delhi.
Called the ‘Energy Café’, these stations will cater to e2Ws and e3Ws, including e-bike, e-auto and e-rickshaws. The company aims to set up 50 swap stations by the end of April 2022.
Additionally, the JV plans to have a network of 500 stations within the next two years. In other states, the company plans to open these outlets based on the concentration of EVs, starting with Pune and Bangalore.
Kinetic Green will provide the standardised batteries and the charging grid while the stations will be set up across the IGL stations.
With a capacity of charging up to 12 batteries, these stations can be operated by an electric vehicle. Kinetic Green provides a retro fitment kit for vehicles not compatible with the given batteries.
Arun Kumar Jana, Managing Director, IGL, said that a single battery can give a claimed range of 80kms in an e2W while two of such batteries will be required for a similar range in L-3 e3Ws, and four such batteries will be needed for the L-5 e3Ws.
According to a communication from IGL, the stations are IoT enabled and can provide real-time location of the batteries and charging status to the users using an app. The users can locate the nearest swapping station, book batteries and pay through digital payment gateways.
Pawan Kumar, Director, IGL, said, “We are stepping into the electric vehicle value chain by putting up EV charging infrastructure. Through this initiative we will be adding one more vehicle segment i.e two-wheelers to our kitty, which are not CNG users today.”
Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Founder and CEO, Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solution, noted that this solution will reduce the upfront cost of owning an EV by 50%. Further, this will revolutionise the EV industry in India, especially for intra-city and last-mile transport.