Bounce Infinity ties up with BPCL, to offer EV battery swaps at petrol pumps

Indian EV startup Bounce Infinity has joined hands with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to install EV battery swapping facilities at the oil retailer's petrol pumps across the country. The strategic partnership between the two entities will offer more than 20,000 petrol pumps with such facilities spread across around 10 cities. Bounce Infinity is one of the electric two-wheeler manufacturers in India to use swappable batteries for its EVs.

Bounce Infinity's battery swapping technology, which will be used at BPCL retails, will cater to both electric two-wheelers as well as three-wheelers. Besides Bounce Infinity, several other electric two-wheeler manufacturers use similar technology for their products which include brands like Okinawa Autotech and Simple Energy.

Speaking on the tie-up with BCPL, Vivekananda Hallakere, CEO at Bounce Infinity, said, “This partnership reiterates our commitment towards a cleaner and pollution-free country by making our network accessible to consumers at the same scale and convenience as refuelling." Bounce Infinity has already facilitated more than one million battery swaps in India so far.

PS Ravi, Executive Director In-Charge (Retail) at BPCL, said, “We are delighted to partner with Bounce Infinity, a leading start up offering innovative and state-of-the art smart battery swapping solutions for 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler EV customers.

The battery swapping technology offers peace of mind to customers wary of long charging hours for their EVs. The batteries used in this technology are similar to using detachable battery on devices, which can be replaced when it the juice ends. Bounce Infinity will offer the technology where customers can drive in an EV that runs on swappable batteries, leave the discharged unit at the facility and drive away with one that is fully recharged.

Battery swapping technology, which is also used globally, is one of the ways to keep the cost of an EV down. However, these batteries are not large in size and, hence, do not offer the kind of range other EVs with fixed batteries can offer.