Panasonic launches Nymbus, a charging solution for electric vehicles used in public transportation
The solution - deployed with SmartE and qQuick - includes charging stations, swap stations, on-board charging, and telematics as well as cloud-based, AI-powered analytics services.
Electric vehicles are all the range, two-wheelers more than personal cars and electric three-wheelers somewhere in between. But the challenge for all modes has been charging infrastructure. Joining the band of companies addressing this challenge is Panasonic, which today announced the launch of Nymbus, its smart EV charging service, developed by its Indian R&D team as part of its electric mobility initiative.
The Panasonic Nymbus alongside a two-wheeler from qQuick and a SmartE rickshaw
The company described Nymbus as a 'futuristic charging service' that includes charging stations, swap stations, on-board charging, telematics systems, as well as 'virtual components like cloud service, analytics, intuitive dashboard, and artificial intelligence to deliver a one-stop solution'.
In the first phase, Panasonic has partnered with electric mobility service providers and will deploy Nymbus on 150 SmartE electric three-wheelers and 25 qQuick two-wheelers in Delhi-NCR.
According to the company, Nymbus is built to learn and gain intelligence over time. It can assist fleet managers in monitoring and managing their fleet by monitoring the efficiency of different li-ion battery packs, and avoiding unnecessary charging trips. The cloud and app service also allows EV owners and fleet owners to easily search and navigate the nearest charging point.
Manish Sharma, President & CEO Panasonic India, said that this was the first time the diversified conglomerate has ventured into the service domain in energy and e-mobility to cater to the the requirements of users and service providers to enable faster EV adoption in India.
The solution is poised to help individual EV users, EV fleet owners, ecommerce and logistics companies to manage their fleet more efficiently and also the utility providers, vehicle, equipment, and battery manufacturers to understand the user patterns and calibrate the products and services accordingly.
The service comes equipped with telematics sensors on the vehicles, allowing users to generate real-time data and reports from continuous operation thus enabling them to use their fleet in the most efficient way. Built to learn and gain intelligence over time, the systems are poised to assist the fleet managers in monitoring and managing the entire fleet such as finding out the efficiency of different li-ion battery packs, avoiding unnecessary charge trips due to lack of charging and real-time data, monitoring of vehicle data usage etc.
The cloud and app service also allows EV and fleet owners to easily search and navigate the nearest charging point, thus reducing logistical challenges.
Atul Arya, Head Energy Systems Division, Panasonic India, pointed out that while the service was currently meant for two- and three-wheelers, the company planned to extend this soon to other vehicles. He said,
"We have currently deployed our solutions in Delhi NCR and aim to expand the offerings to Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) in the next three years and 25 more cities in the next five years (catering to) targeting approximately one million vehicles.”
Goldie Srivastava, Co-founder and CEO, SmartE, said, “Panasonic’s technology enabled charging service would not only help us optimise our charging infrastructure but also help achieve operational efficiencies through real-time data generation."
Late last year, Mahindra & Mahindra announced a partnership with SmartE, which provides last-mile connectivity solutions, to launch 100,000 electric three-wheelers by 2022. Delhi-NCR-based SmartE already has charging infrastructure for 800 vehicles and is due to expand this to accommodate the new vehicles. Around the same time, energy infrastructure and services company SUN Mobility had also partnered with SmartE to set up battery swapping stations.
qQuick is an integrated, dockless electric scooter rental service based out of Delhi. The service is completely keyless, and a customer only needs is a mobile, a digital payment account and a driving licence. qQuick is founded by Harvard Business School alumnus Aishwarya Kachhal, who wants to clean the air Delhi breathes.
"Our aim is to establish an integrated green mobility ecosystem for India. We are partnering with the best for making India the leader in green mobility," Aishwarya said.