India’s largest commercial EV fleet operator Lithium Urban Technologies today joined hands with renewable energy solutions provider Fourth Partner Energy to build charging infrastructure across the country. This equal partnership joint venture – Shuchi Anant Virya unveiled its first EV charging hub in Gurugram, capable of charging 25-30 vehicles simultaneously. The facility will be used initially to charge Lithium’s fleet to Wipro and American Express in Gurugram. The JV has also commissioned a second charging facility in Pune, Maharashtra.
In this JV, Fourth Partner Energy will provide a mix of onsite & offsite solar solutions to power Lithium’s fleet, while the latter will be the anchor client providing base demand across hubs. Fourth Partner has a pan-India portfolio of 370 MW of solar assets for clients like Coca Cola, Walmart, Schneider, Skoda, Ferrero, TCS and McDonalds. On the other hand, Lithium occupies the pole position in India’s EV growth story. The firm’s all-electric fleet of over 1,000 vehicles deployed across Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Jaipur caters to over 30 corporate clients keen on reducing their carbon footprint as well as their transportation costs –including Google, McKinsey, Credit Suisse and Barclays.
The JV has also commissioned its second charging hub in Pune. This Pune facility near Kharadi is one of India’s largest EV charging hubs for four-wheelers; and has the capacity to charge over 40 vehicles at a time. The plan for FY 21 is for Shuchi to add a couple of more charging hubs across Delhi-NCR, and at least one each in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
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Speaking at the inauguration of these charging hubs, Vivek Subramanian, Co-founder & ED at Fourth Partner Energy alluded to the synergies between EV and PV (Photovoltaic) being centred around a reduction in Carbon footprint. “The global transition to electric mobility can be considered truly green only when the increased demand for energy is met by clean, renewable sources – Shuchi was formed to address this opportunity.”
Vikash Mishra, Head of External Relations, Lithium Urban Technologies said, “Businesses are becoming increasingly conscious of better environmental practices. Solar-powered EV charging infrastructure will not just close the loop on procuring clean energy for electric vehicles but will also result in improved cost-efficiency. The domestic EV market is expected to grow by 35% annually till 2026 and fleet operators will be the first to embrace this change. Lithium is readying India for this future of shared, connected, electric mobility. With the help of Fourth Partner Energy, we are confident of enabling this transition in a zero-Carbon manner.”