SUN Mobility and SmartE to implement Battery Swapping System for EVs
SmartE to bring over 100,000 vehicles on its platform by 2022
SUN Mobility has announced a partnership with SmartE to deploy its universal energy infrastructure to support SmartE’s growing EV operations. 500 SmartE Electric Three-Wheelers will use this battery swapping system across Delhi-NCR, over the next 3 months in Phase 1.
In April 2018, SUN Mobility showcased the Interoperable Smart Mobility solution for 2-and-3 wheelers. SmartE’s fleet of electric three-wheelers will make use of SUN Mobility’s solution and will be deployed at SmartE Park & Charge Hubs across the Delhi-NCR. The month-long field trials for this solution were successfully concluded in Gurugram last week.
“The partnership underscores our commitment to make last-mile commute easy, safe, affordable and eco-friendly for everyone. SUN Mobility’s Interoperable Smart Mobility solution will enable us to rapidly scale up our vision without having to worry about the energy infrastructure,” said Goldie Srivastava, Co-Founder and CEO, SmartE.
SmartE had set up India’s largest EV charging infrastructure with a captive capacity to charge more than 800 vehicles concurrently. It is currently operational in Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad with a fleet of nearly 1000 vehicles on its platform.
“As a pioneer in the electric mobility service space, SmartE plans to roll-out 100,000 vehicles by 2022. At 100,000 vehicles, SmartE will help reduce close to a million tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent of planting 17 million trees per year,” he added.
SmartE already has an ongoing partnership with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and delivers nearly 80,000 rides to commuters daily. SmartE has served over 30 million pollution-free rides in the past three years since inception and is India’s largest electric vehicle service platform today.
By using SUN Mobility’s Smart Batteries, which use the advanced Lithium ion technology, the weight of the vehicle is reduced by ~100 Kgs improving the efficiency of the vehicle, therefore allowing for increased mileage, better pickup and higher gradients. The Quick Interchange Stations enable electric three-wheeler drivers to swap their batteries in under two minutes. The pilot results show a spike in the revenue as drivers are able to operate the vehicle for 40% longer range compared to the conventional Li-Ion battery-based vehicles and 80% more compared to conventional Lead-Acid battery-based vehicles.
“Conventional electric three-wheelers that run on lead-acid batteries usually require eight hours of overnight charging and four hours of opportunity charge during the day. The assets remain idle half of the time during the day and could only cover 60–80 km which cause a loss of potential revenue. Our solution, through swapping, enables them to realise the full potential of last-mile transport and clock more than 150 kms per day,” said Chetan Maini, Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman, SUN Mobility. “The partnership with SmartE will enable us to tangibly impact the lives of hundreds of people by making ‘refuelling’ of electric vehicles faster, cheaper and more convenient for them to adopt,” he added.
SUN Mobility’s solution will aim to significantly augur the earning opportunity for electric three-wheeler drivers on SmartE’s platform, as it addresses the main challenges of high-replacement cost, low-life of the battery, limited-range, and long-refueling time. SUN Mobility’s Quick Interchange Stations’ computer controlled advanced charging and thermal management enables over 200 swaps a day and utilise less than 1/50th the real estate space for regular charging.
Speaking on the occasion, Uday Khemka, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of SUN Mobility, said, “E-rickshaw drivers not only worry about making ends-meet, but also about saving money to replace lead-acid batteries every 6–9 months. Our pay-as-you-go solution ensures that the 1.5 million e-rickshaws plying on the roads today and the eleven thousand that are added every month are affordable and make economic sense for the drivers.”
SUN Mobility’s energy infrastructure platform comprises Smart Batteries, Quick Interchange Stations and a Smart Network (an IoT-based cloud platform) that helps keep a constant check on the battery vitals, tracks batteries in real time, enables digital authentication, station operations and ensures service delivery optimisation.
SUN Mobility is a 50:50 joint venture between Virya Mobility 5.0 and SUN New Energy Systems. The company was established in April 2017 and is led by Chetan Maini, previously founder of Reva now Mahindra Reva, and Uday Khemka, Vice Chairman of SUN Group.
