VoltUp partners Hindustan Petroleum for battery swapping solutions across India

After Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) will offer a battery swapping option at its select petrol pumps for EVs, offering to replace discharged batteries with fully charged ones in just a couple of minutes.

This follows a partnership with VoltUp - a one-stop solution to better swapping for 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler vehicle startup.

"The partnership has unveiled 2 battery swapping stations in Jaipur," VoltUp said in a statement. "In their efforts to set up smart electric mobility stations across India for e-vehicles, the partnership looks to open 50 such battery swapping solutions centres across India in the next six months."

The lack of charging infrastructure, high cost of adoption, and long charging time for EVs have been the hurdles and challenges towards the adoption of electric mobility in India.

"To plug these gaps, VoltUp and HPCL have come together towards setting and scaling up infrastructure – bridging the gap for network, energy and technology."

"With this tie-up, VoltUp aims at providing infrastructure for instant swapping to end consumers, last-mile delivery, shared mobility providers, OEM's and logistic players with smart lithium-ion batteries in a connected environment-friendly manner," the statement said.

The partnership aims at leveraging the countrywide network of HPCL and technological advancements of VoltUp in the field of battery swapping technologies.

Previously, IOC had partnered Sun Mobility for setting up battery swapping facilities at its petrol pumps.

"VoltUp is speeding up the adoption of e-vehicles in India by setting up a smart battery-swapping network which is hassle-free and takes less than two minutes to swap and be on the road. The service networks will provide complete maintenance, service support to all e-vehicles," the statement said.

Announcing the partnership, Siddharth Kabra, CEO VoltUp, said: "HPCL, an already active player in the EV segment, recognises the importance of swapping infrastructure in sync with their current model of instant fuelling. This clearly resonates with VoltUp's business model of instant swap on a pay as you go basis thus also addressing the challenge of the higher upfront cost of EV's."

With its deep understanding and expertise in solar, the startup intends to integrate green energy for charging batteries and thus providing a completely green solution to the EV industry, he said.

"With a quick to use smart battery swapping networks being set up under tie-up with HPCL, it will promote the end-users to find a fully charged battery within their neighbourhood. This will also act as a catalyst in pushing the envelope of smart mobility in India," he said.

Advanced lithium batteries will be provided as a subscription to lower the initial investment in the EVs, the statement added.