Week In India: Ather Energy Starts Retailing ‘Ather 450X’ In Siliguri, West Bengal; And More

Ather Energy Starts Retailing Its Electric Scooter, Ather 450X In Siliguri, West Bengal

Ather Energy, India’s first intelligent electric scooter manufacturer, opened its first Experience Centre in West Bengal. Ather Energy inaugurates its new retail outlet – Ather Space, at Sevoke road, Siliguri in association with SRIRS E-Ventures Pvt Ltd on Saturday, 9th of October, 2021. The Ather 450X, one of India’s quickest and smartest scooters, alongside the Ather 450 Plus will be available for test rides and purchase at Ather Space.  The West Bengal government has introduced various initiatives to drive EV adoption in the state and aims for 10 Lakh vehicle registrations to be electric vehicles by 2025. The government has established a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) cell in the territory, no road tax, and registration fees on the purchase of EV 2-wheelers. In addition, the state government is pushing for 1 Lakh public charging stations in the coming years. 

Tata Motors Plans To Invest Rs 15,000 Cr. In Its EV Business

TPG Rise Climate has decided to invest a seventh of its $ 7 billion corpus into Tata Motors. With this, the company is planning to invest Rs 15,000 crore in its EV business. The investment will happen over the next 5 years when the company will launch 10 new products. Tata said it would invest in new platforms, technologies and further localize its EV vertical. With the investment from TPG, the valuation of the new dedicated EV firm will be at $ 9.1 billion (Rs 66,600 crore). For the moment, Tata is calling its new arm as  EVco. This valuation is more than 7 times the valuation of its entire passenger vehicle business unit that the company had put at Rs 9,417 crore earlier this year. Currently, Tata Motors has managed to achieve localization of 60 percent in its Nexon and Tigor EVs. By fiscal 2025, it plans to increase that to over 85 percent.

EV Startup AMO Mobility Plans To Raise USD 200 Million In 3 Years

Electric mobility startup AMO Mobility is in  plans to raise around USD 200 million (nearly Rs 1,500 crore) in the next three years in order to fund its expansion. The company plans to enhance production capacity to around 5 lakh electric two-wheelers per annum by 2025. This was informed by the company founder Sushant Kumar to PTI. The company currently produces around 2,000 units a month at its facility at Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It sells a range of high-speed and low-speed electric scooters with top speed of less than 25 km/hr. Its range of vehicles include Jaunty, Feisty, Inspirer and Spin. Mr. Kumar informed that the fundraising is for investment, adding that the company is “looking to invest at least 40 percent of our total budget towards development of futuristic technology, which will make us independent within four to six years”.

PGCIL Approves Setting Up Of Rs 14.23-cr EV Charging Station In Navi Mumbai

The board of State-owned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd’s (PGCIL) approved an investment of Rs 14.23 crore for an electric vehicle charging station in Navi Mumbai and also to create an arm to undertake telecom and digital technology businesses. This is under the FAME India Scheme Phase-II as per a BSE filing by the company. Powergrid board has also approved the incorporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary of PowerGrid to undertake its telecommunications and digital technology business. The statement also mentioned that the commissioning schedule is 12 months for the charging station and for other infrastructures such as kiosks and toilets, it is 24 months from the date of agreement to be signed between POWERGRID and Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT).

Arun Vinayak, Ather Energy’s Ex-CPO, Launches Exponent Energy To Simplify Energy for EVs

Arun Vinayak, Ather Energy’s Founding partner and former Chief Product Officer, is embarking on a new journey in the EV space with the launch of Exponent Energy. Sanjay Byalal, his colleague at Ather Energy and a former HUL supply chain & operations manager, has joined Arun, as a Co-Founder to drive Exponent’s larger vision for the EV industry. Exponent aims to simplify energy for EVs by building a Flexible Energy Stack: a technology that enables seamless flow of energy & information between the grid & vehicle to unlock a universe of products. The first line of products is a battery pack & charging station called E-pack & E-pump that together unlock a 0 to 100% rapid charge within 15 minutes for commercial vehicles with any number of wheels. All while using affordable Lithium-ion cells & delivering a 3000 cycle life warranty.

Goa State Government Starts Finalising The Draft EV Charging Infra Policy

The Goa state government has drafted its Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Policy. As informed by a senior officer that through the policy the government is planning to set up charging stations in parking lots and government buildings. As per the official, a contextual approach is needed to ensure the efficient and timely implementation of EV charging infrastructure, such that it meets local requirements and is optimally integrated within the electricity supply and transportation networks. The official informed that they have received objections and suggestions to the policy. These will be considered and then the policy will be placed before the cabinet for final approval. The state government has decided to provide subsidies to 11,000 electric vehicles every year for a period of five years. Annual cap on the subsidy will be at Rs 25 crore annually.

General Motors, LG Electronics Reach Agreement on Bolt EV Recall Costs

General Motors Co. announced today it has reached an agreement under which LG Electronics Inc. will reimburse GM for costs and expenses associated with the recall of Chevrolet Bolt EVs and EUVs due to manufacturing defects in battery modules supplied by LG. As a result of the agreement, GM will recognize an estimated recovery in its third-quarter earnings that will offset $1.9 billion of $2.0 billion in charges associated with the recalls. “LG is a valued and respected supplier to GM, and we are pleased to reach this agreement,” said Shilpan Amin, GM vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “Our engineering and manufacturing teams continue to collaborate to accelerate production of new battery modules and we expect to begin repairing customer vehicles this month.”

Battery Tech Startup Log 9 Partners with Fortum For InstaCharging

Advanced battery technology startup Log 9 Materials has partnered with EV charging infrastructure solutions provider Fortum Charge & Drive India to deploy and provide access to their public fast chargers for two-wheeler and three-wheeler electric vehicles (EVs) in India. The partnership, which is aimed at ensuring a smooth experience vis-à-vis providing accessible fast-charging stations to the Indian customers and/or end-users – will be for a duration of at least 24 months and can thereafter be mutually extended both in terms of period and scope. As an outcome of this collaboration, consumers charging Log 9 powered vehicles at Fortum’s EV charging stations will be incentivized in terms of a preferential tariff. The tariff scheme is currently only applicable at charging stations located in Hyderabad city and Vijaywada Highway; however, it will be expanded to other tier 1, tier 2, and metro cities of our country in the near future.