Non-availability of charging stations is always blamed for the slow adaption of electric vehicles in India. However, the limited numbers of EVs running on the road keep charging station companies in limbo. For charging station operators, especially private ones, aggressive business investments are still a big gamble. However, according to Varun Chaturvedi, MD & CEO, Volttic, charging stations’ numbers depend on EVs’ penetration in India. “Instead of discussing the classic chicken and egg problem and comparing the Indian EV market with the western market, we need to understand the penetration of EVs and charging stations will happen simultaneously,” says Chaturvedi.

The electric vehicle charging stations market is expected to exceed more than USD 30 billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 40%. As per a rough estimation, currently, there are around 1,000 Bharat DC001 charging stations and over 1,000 Bharat AC001 charging stations are available in India.

The Indian Government also announced its intention to set up at least one e-charging kiosk at around 69,000 petrol stations across India.

Volttic is a leading charge point operator (CPO) in India running EV charging stations pan India. The company provides complete end-to-end EV charging solutions for home and commercial segments.

“Volttic focuses a business strategy which benefits for all- OEs, EV owners and us,” adds Chaturvedi.

The company is consciously setting up EV charging stations with customised solutions on demand in the country. “Rather than putting charging infrastructures where nobody comes, we are tying up with people who are ready to use our solutions,” he explains.

The company is currently focusing on fleet operators, which Chaturvedi predicts, will have faster growth in India when it comes to the EV adoption. As of now, Volttic’s dedicated charging and public charging stations ratio is 80 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

In the B2B segment, Volttic’s clients are employee transporters, while in the B2C, the company serves taxi fleets.

“We are strategically deploying our charging stations to relieve our customers from range anxiety and carry smooth transportation without breakdown,” he says.

Having a background of electrical engineering, his core expertise is in electrical equipment, chargers, batteries, and the power sector. Elaborating his decision to venture into the EV charging station business, he says, “In 2016-17, there were hardly any players in the EV charging station business, though it was gaining momentum in Europe and the US. The charging station business was relatively new in India then, and everybody had to start from scratch, which provided equal challenges and opportunities. Being an entrepreneur, you should adopt a business where you have the expertise and control over the technologies. We knew the EV charging station will mostly evolve on as a service.”

Volttic’s Co-founder, Surendar Pratap Singh, too comes from the electric background, while the other co-founder, Shweta Chaturvedi, hails from the software industry. “Having the background of hardware and software, we are completely self-dependent in the EV charging supply chain,” Chaturvedi adds.

However, challenges are larger in deploying public EV charging stations compared with dedicated ones. Explaining the challenges further, Chaturvedi says, “Generally, two to three days are needed to set up a dedicated EV charging station in a corporate premise as most of the infrastructure such as power supply, wiring and parking space is readily available. However, when it comes to a public domain, we have to spend months scouting a location, then getting power supply from DISCOM takes time as well.”

EV charging takes more time than gasoline refuelling, and EV consumers expect to have charging station points at their preferred locations, time, and price to avoid range anxiety. Chaturvedi added that public EV charging stations should be deployed in public spaces such as malls, restaurants, hotels, shopping complexes and others where they can indulge in other recreational activities while the vehicles are being charged.

The company provides technology-oriented solutions consist of Bharat DC01 & Bharat AC01, CCS2 Chargers & ChadeMo Chargers to serve the clients’ needs. Currently, it operates around 123 charging points AC/ DC mix and plans to order around 50 double guns fast chargers with 100 charging points in the next couple of months. In the next five years by 2025, Volttic aims to have around 5,000 plus machines with double guns. “So, if we talk about charging points, we will have between 10,000 plus charging points in the next five years,” adds Chaturvedi. The company is in the process of executing an order of USD1 million in the next few months.

On the policy side, he urges a push for private charging players as well. Last year the Government had given in-principle approval to firms, including NTPC, EESL and REIL, to set up 2,600 EV charging stations.

“Last time, under the FAME-II, subsidies were given to EV charging stations operated by PSUs. This time too, an Expression of Interest (EoI) has been invited for highways and expressways.” However, he advocates that the EV ecosystem should not only depend on subsidies. “We need to come out from the mindset of incentives. Once subsidies are stopped, many nights by flyers vanish from the market,” he says.

Volttic focuses on better utilisation of the EV charging machines to have economic viability in the business.

“If my dedicated charging machines are utilised for ten to twelve hours and public charging stations are utilised for around six to seven hours per day, I can achieve economic viability,” says Chaturvedi.

Volttic’s all EV charging machines are manufactured according to government standards by its strategic partners in India. Deployment and maintenance are taken care of by Volttic. “Software is the backbone of our business. Station monitoring, tariff management, booking slots, navigation, payments and app, everything is managed by in-house software team,” adds Chaturvedi. The company provides public EV charging app with all advance feature set for EV drivers. Easy navigation to nearest charging stations, booking, payment and all transaction details just in a click with Volttic mobile application. The app also provides complete details of charging station and availability for charging slots and many more advance features for EV users.

Margins in the business widely depend on the operating costs, which again vary from city to city. EV charging stations charge in both ways- per unit (kWH) or hours or minutes basic, and In India, EV charging stations in use the former way to charge tariffs. “Operating cost and subsequently, tariffs depend on many factors. Many states have adopted the EV policy so there are caps on per unit charge, while states that have not adopted the EV policy charge commercial rates per unit. Besides, location rents and machine cost also determine the tariffs. But yes, the tariff has to be lower than per km costs of fossil fuel-driven vehicles. Commercial viability can be achieved if machine utilisation rates are good,” explains Chaturvedi.

Talking on the feasibility of procuring energy from solar, he says, “Again to install a dedicated solar system, you need CAPEX. Even if it is fitted and the machines’ utilisation remains low, where will we dump electricity or inject in the grid at ever lower net metering? However, our ultimate goal is to get energy from renewable resources in future, when we have good hours of machine utilisation to consume dedicated renewable power energy. Also, within city getting rooftop location to develop a 50-70 KW solar plant will be another challenge, so we are more aligned toward our nationwide renewable integration up to 175 GW by 2022 and subsequent more to the coming year.”

As most EV charging station business is being driven by commercial fleet operators, availing value-added services do not bring more business rather bring more liability, thinks Chaturvedi. “Value-added services are good for personal/ individual vehicle owners, whereas commercial fleet operators think of the total cost of operations,” tells Chaturvedi.

Chaturvedi quotes battery swapping is currently not viable for electric 4W and buses as it needs heavy infrastructure.

Moreover, it is not viable unless battery packs and technologies are uniformed in the electric car and buses by all OEMs, which looks very difficult in coming time as well.

“Since Volttic is using only Government approved EV Chargers standard and that are adopted by all OEM of four-wheeler cars and buses, so most of the client are fleet of electric car and buses. For two and three-wheelers, swapping is a more convenient option as most of them currently available in the market do not have the facility to charge fast with DC chargers. So swapping is the way to get a quick top-up by replacing charged batteries,” adds he.

It requires robust infrastructure such as bulk charging system, a software system to get details on batteries. The business is only successful when fleets run over 200 km per day, and there is a good number of volume of 2W & 3W,” says Chaturvedi. However, the company is also exploring options of getting into battery swapping business with two and three-wheeler fleet companies. (MT)

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Chinese technology company Neusoft Corporation and Mappls MapmyIndia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to leverage their strengths in software and data resources to collaborate deeply.

The companies will engage in joint technological development, ecosystem collaboration and resource integration to provide navigation products and intelligent mobility solutions tailored to localised needs in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and India.

The partnership is a response to the fact that while global auto brands are expanding into Southeast Asia and India, they face challenges in these regions due to complex road conditions, unique traffic rules, extensive addressing systems and high localisation adaptation costs. These issues limit the ability of automakers to deliver a complete intelligent user experience.

Under the collaboration, Neusoft will adopt its OneCoreGo Global Intelligent Mobility Solution 6.0 Plus as the core technology carrier, deeply integrating MapmyIndia's map data, real-time traffic information and multi-dimensional value-added services. MapmyIndia is noted as the largest local mapping company in India, holding more than 90 percent market share in in-vehicle navigation.

The integration is intended to strengthen a full capability loop of ‘navigation + payment + interaction + connectivity + operations’.

Through API integration and technological convergence, the two parties will jointly develop navigation products and mobility solutions highly adapted to Southeast Asia, India and similar regional markets. These solutions will deliver precise route planning and real-time traffic guidance, address local user needs and continuously enhance product experience and scenario-based services. This will help automotive partners rapidly launch intelligent vehicle models with competitiveness in local markets.

The partnership enables Neusoft to combine the global end-to-end strengths of its solution with localised ecosystem resources, paving the ‘last mile’ for automakers entering the Southeast Asian and Indian markets and delivering comprehensive intelligent mobility experiences.

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Bengaluru-based electric vehicle maker Ultraviolette Automotive has secured USD 45 million from Zoho Corporation and Lingotto, one of Europe's investment management companies as part of its ongoing Series E investment round.

The investment from Zoho Corporation was led by Sridhar Vembu, Mani Vembu and Kumar Vembu.

This growth capital will accelerate the domestic and international scale-up of current products F77 and X-47, as well as future product platforms Shockwave and Tesseract.

Ultraviolette has built a design and technology-led enterprise with the F77 and the recently launched X-47.

The company has expanded to 30 cities across India in a short span of 12 months and is expanding to 100 cities by mid-2026. The F77 motorcycles were recently launched in the United Kingdom, bringing Ultraviolette's presence to 12 countries across Europe.

Narayan Subramaniam, Co-Founder & CEO, Ultraviolette Automotive, said, “We are glad to announce our Series E investment from Zoho and Lingotto. Lingotto's legacy of backing iconic performance and mobility brands, combined with Zoho's long-term commitment to fostering cutting-edge Indian innovation, aligns perfectly with Ultraviolette's mission to build category-defining electric mobility solutions for India and global markets.”

Niraj Rajmohan, CTO & Co-Founder, Ultraviolette, said, "With the ongoing Series E investments, we are doubling down on growth and expanding our production to meet increasing demand. Our focus is on advancing breakthrough battery technology, elevating performance capabilities and expanding production to support upcoming product platforms. This investment will accelerate our journey towards scaling into India and global markets."

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Agentic AI platform Disseqt AI has announced a partnership with Tata Technologies and Infosys. As per the agreement, Disseqt AI will assist both companies' IT and DevOps teams in developing and fast-tracking the production of tailored Agentic AI applications for automobile and FinTech companies globally.

The partnership aims to help auto and FinTech firms embrace customised Agentic AI faster and in a secure manner.

Disseqt AI, which has operations in Bengaluru, San Francisco and Dublin, provides an enterprise-grade platform for IT and DevOps teams. The company claims its platform cuts down Agentic AI testing and operations cost by 70 percent and improves productivity by up to 80 percent. The platform allows these teams to test, simulate and monitor their Agentic AI systems tailored across industries, ultimately enabling enterprises to operationalise tailored Agentic AI faster and at scale, without sacrificing ethics, governance and compliance.

Apoorva Kumar, Founder and CEO, Disseqt AI, said, “This is a landmark announcement for us as we further embed Disseqt into enterprise workflows for testing, simulation, monitoring and auditability purposes. We are already working closely with both Tata and Infosys on several projects and are proud to be part of their innovation initiatives”

Last month, Disseqt AI announced a strategic collaboration with HCLTech and Microsoft to guide financial services institutions with Agentic AI adoption.

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Battery and Energy Storage Europe has announced a programme focused on the EU Battery Passport, a regulatory milestone that becomes mandatory in February 2027. The Barcelona-based event will address the compliance gap for applications beyond the electric vehicle (EV) sector, which have dominated the conversation to date.

The event, taking place on 8th and 9th September 2026 at Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue, will focus on solutions and talks for applications that fall within the regulation's scope: stationary energy storage, industrial batteries, grid-scale systems, long-duration energy storage and emerging applications in aerospace, maritime and rail electrification.

With the February 2027 legal requirement date approaching, the programme will bring together industry leaders, technology providers, and policy experts to address the compliance challenges facing these diverse sectors.

The Battery Passport is a digital record documenting a battery's entire lifecycle, from raw material sourcing to production, performance and eventual recycling. From February 2027, it becomes mandatory for all rechargeable EV, industrial and LMT batteries over 2 kWh sold in the EU.

Linked via QR code, the passport will track each battery's complete lifecycle, including composition, carbon footprint and recycled content, fundamentally transforming supply chain transparency and sustainability practices across Europe.

The programme will explore implementation topics including digital infrastructure requirements, data management systems, supply chain integration, verification processes and recycling traceability.

Ken Davies, Conference Programme Director at Battery and Energy Storage Europe, said, "The Battery Passport represents one of the most significant regulatory shifts our industry has faced, yet many companies are still grappling with what implementation actually means for their operations. While the EV sector has dominated the conversation, there's a critical need to address how this regulation applies to stationary storage, industrial applications and the innovative battery technologies powering Europe's energy transition. With the clock ticking toward February 2027, Battery and Energy Storage Europe will shine a light on the practical implementation requirements for these often-overlooked sectors, connecting stakeholders with actionable solutions and bringing together the expertise, technology providers, and collaborative spirit needed to turn compliance into competitive advantage across the full spectrum of battery applications."

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