iCreate facilitates investment partnership between Charge+Zone, Gujarat govt for EV charging infra

Ahmedabad-based startup incubation centre iCreate has facilitated an investment partnership worth $300 million between Charge+Zone and the Gujarat government to set up 50,000 EV charging stations across the country.

The two partners signed an initial pact in this regard on Monday as part of the investment promotion activity for the forthcoming Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in January next year, with an objective to amplify the charging infrastructure for EVs on national and state highways across India, according to a statement.

Charge+Zone, an EV charging networks provider, has created an active business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) network for EV charging for both fleet and retail customers by setting up over 1,250 charging points across over 400 charging stations, serving around 3,000 EVs (cars and buses) on a daily basis, according to the statement.

Under the collaboration, a network of 10,000 un-manned and app-driven charging stations will be set up on the national and state highways within Gujarat and scale it up to over 50,000 charging stations to cover pan-India.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between both the parties aims to further electrify 10,000 km of national and state highways in the next 3-5 years with super-fast charging stations, it stated.

It will also lay the foundation in creating a robust charging infrastructure model for the country, thereby helping enable e-mobility for the consumers, it stated.

It added that the Gujarat government will facilitate Charge+Zone to obtain necessary clearances and approvals from the departments concerned of the state as per the existing policies of the state government.

"This MoU with the Gujarat government coupled with the successful magnetless EV motor project with Sona Comstar and our EVangelise EV Innovation programme have made iCreate a reference point for EV innovators in India," iCreate Chief Executive Officer Anupam Jalote said.

Supported by iCreate, Charge+Zone also provides comprehensive EV charging solutions by offering energy-as-a-service with battery swap stations, app-driven convenience and cloud-based technology, it said.

While the national/ state highways will be deployed with super-fast charging stations, the EV charging network company aims to bring in AC type-2 max charger and AC type-2 mini chargers for corporate campuses, gated communities, and business/IT parks, among others, the statement said.

"It is an honour for us to partner with the government to electrify the roadways with EV charging points in the country. With this, we have taken a step closer towards achieving our mission of setting up one million charging points in the country and consequently, accelerating the adoption of EVs in the country," Charge+Zone founder CEO Kartikey Hariyani said.

The company said it now looks forward to setting up new hubs for over 3,000 electric buses for intercity public transportation in over 10 states.

iCreate (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology) is an autonomous centre of excellence of the Gujarat government is India's largest institution for transforming start-ups based on tech innovation into successful businesses.

Located in a state-of-the-art 40-acre campus at Dev Dholera in Ahmedabad, it has till date supported over 444 innovations and over 30 patents with a 'high-touch, entrepreneur-first' model, connecting them with mentors, markets and money.