BENGALURU: While there are battery swapping options available, majorly for two-wheelers and three-wheelers, Sun Mobility, one of the leading providers of energy infrastructure and services for electric vehicles, along with Veera Vahana, a bus manufacturer, has introduced India’s first modular battery swapping technology for heavy electric vehicles (HEV) like buses and trucks. Veera Vahana launched India’s first 10.5-meter ‘battery-swappable’ buses for intercity and mofussil routes, which was one of the main attractions at Prawaas 4.0, an international conference organized by the Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI) here on Thursday.
The battery swapping industry is in its nascent stage, with an annual business of around Rs 600 crore. This development is set to revolutionise the industry, as private bus operators need not invest heavily (approximately over Rs 1.8 crore per bus). Instead they can opt for a battery swapping vehicle, which costs almost as much as a diesel bus (Approximately over Rs 75 lakhs per bus).
“Using electric commercial buses and trucks is crucial to cut down emission and boost overall efficiency of transport sector. They contribute to over 50 per cent of the tailpipe emissions. A major hurdle for private bus and truck operators to shift to electric vehicles, is that they are not subsidised unlike EVs procured by transport corporations run by government,” said Chetan Maini, Co-Founder, Chairman of Sun Mobility.
With our ‘smart battery’ solution, which is suitable for light, medium and heavy trucks and buses, ranging from 3-tonne to 55-tonne gross vehicle weight, the upfront cost of the buses can be cut down by almost 50 percent. This can encourage commercial vehicles to switch to EVs and achieve India’s goal of zero carbon emission, he explained.
It will not take more than two minutes to swap the depleted battery packs with the charged ones, less than the time taken to fill diesel into the buses, doing away with the long waiting time for charging the batteries, and the anxiety of the battery range. The cost of swapping batteries is less than operating diesel buses, and it will go down further, as the number of vehicles increase, Maini said.
Sharing details on the availability of the swapping infra, he said Sun Mobility has 630 battery swapping stations (for two-wheelers, three-wheelers and small four wheelers) in 20 cities across the country. The company clocks around 1.6 million kilometres and 60,000 battery swaps each day, and they are in talks with bus operators and truck manufacturers to get them to set up more battery swapping stations, along the corridors that the heavy vehicles operate on, like Bengaluru-Chennai, etc.
WILL FIND SOLUTIONS TO YOUR PROBLEMS: DKS TO OPERATORS
DyCM DK Shivakumar inaugurated the three-day Prawaas 4.0 event, organised by the Bus and Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI) at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre on Thursday. Addressing manufacturers and stakeholders in the transport sec-tor, he said he is aware of the woes they face, (especially after the rollout of Shakti scheme) and assured them that he will try to find solutions. Prasanna Patwa-rdhan, President, BOCI, said, “Wi-th the 4th edition of Prawaas, we mark a significant milestone in our pursuit to transform India’s transportation landscape. At Bus and Car Operators Confederation of India, we are not just envisio-ning the future; we are actively shaping it by driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and cha-mpioning sustainable practices across all modes of transport.”