Hero Future Energies plans to enter market for EV charging stations
Hero Future Energies Pvt. Ltd, a company promoted by the Munjal family, plans to enter the battery storage business and set up charging stations to tap India’s emerging electric vehicles (EV) market, chief executive officer Sunil Jain said.
The plan comes at a time when the ‘Bharat Charger’ specifications for electric vehicles are being firmed up. The department of heavy industries (DHI) has submitted its report on these specifications for charging stations to a government committee on EVs.
“Technology is changing very fast. We are looking at solar charging stations,” Jain said in an interview. The plan involves charging batteries and then providing them to vehicles with drained batteries after they complete a trip.
Interestingly, Ather Energy, backed by India’s largest twosonal wheeler company Hero MotoCorp Ltd, also plans to enter the charging infrastructure business in India. Pawan Munjalpromoted Hero MotoCorp picked up a 26-30% stake in Bengalurubased Ather Energy earlier in October 2016 .
India’s EV push has attracted many companies. India’s first multi-modal electric vehicle project was inaugurated last week in Nagpur along with an electric charging station by cab aggregator Ola.
“The specs for Bharat Charger are being done. There is a lot of interest,” said a person involved with the government’s EV plan, requesting anonymity.
Queries emailed to the spokespersons of the ministries of heavy industry, road transport and highways and new and renewable energy remained unanswered.
India has ambitious plans for a mass shift to electric transport by 2030 so that all vehicles on Indian roads by then—both per- and commercial—are powered by electricity.
Hero Future Energies, which is planning to put up one large grid-connected solar plant of up to 100 MW capacity in SouthEast Asia, apart from expanding in Africa and India, plans to be present across the solar energy value chain.
The firm is setting up solar roof-top pilot projects along with storage. The idea is to get into businesses such as integration of batteries and manufacturing them. However, there is no plan to manufacture cells.
“After 2020, the battery price is going to become one-third of what it is today,” Jain said.
With storage being the next frontier for India’s clean energy push, the batteries in EVs offer a potential solution. India’s EV programme will help with grid balancing, besides complementing the government’s push for solar power, which is generated during the day and can be stored in EV batteries.