BattRE Launches India’s First Low-cost E-charging Solution

Is peer-to-peer charging the future of EV infrastructure?

For quite a while now, electric mobility has been marching forward in the Indian automotive market. As more manufacturers introduce electric vehicles, the infrastructure evolves with an increasing number of charging stations being built. Now, Indian EV startup, BattRE Electric Mobility, has launched a rather interesting low-cost charging station architecture called RE:charge, built around the RevOS smart mobility platform.

The aim here is simple - provide an affordable charging solution to the growing number of EVs on Indian roads. BattRE says that these RE:charge charging stations can be set up at homes, offices and grocery stores, among other places. This comes in light of the Indian government’s move to permit the establishment of private charging stations at residences.

To use any of these stations, EV owners need to download the BattRE app from the Play Store, locate the nearest charging station, and scan the QR code on the charger to start charging. Payment is handled through UPI. BattRE says these charging stations can also be used for commercial purposes and can be an added source of income for those who choose to get it installed either at their residence or place of business. The station owners can receive payments made at the RE:charge stations directly through UPI.

Of course, these wouldn’t be anything like the fast-charging stations from the Ather Grid - the charging infrastructure that Ather is setting up in the cities where it’s on sale. But being non-proprietary would mean that they could be used by pretty much any EV, and BattRE confirms as much. Whether these will work seamlessly for every electric 2-wheeler and 4-wheeler in the Indian market is something we will have to figure out when BattRE gives out the exact specifications of the charging point.

But we do have one concern. While these RE:charge stations should work well in individual houses and businesses where ample space is available, we’re not so certain of their viability in tightly packed residential complexes in metro cities like Mumbai. Then there’s also the question of ownership and earnings from these stations in said complexes.

BattRE aims to have 500 charging points across the country by March 2021. More details are available in the press release below:

New Delhi; November 2020: The future of e-mobility in India lies in building robust charging infrastructure and increased participation by automakers. However, the problems of the availability, cost of space, electricity, infrastructure & developing a large-scale charge point network in Indian environment is a challenging task. This has been made possible by BattRE, a tech driven EV startup, which has launched innovative low-cost RE:charge stations powered by RevOS which will disrupt the entire EV charging ecosystem.

Aiming to be a low-cost charging solution, RE:charge Stations are also a boon for people for an additional income. Thus, setting up a charging station can be a new income source which can be installed anywhere like Home, Office, Kirana Shop etc. The RE:charge station owners would receive the payment directly through UPI.

Commenting on this launch, Nishchal Chaudhary, Founder of BattRE says, “With the proposed guidelines of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India’s to permit establishment of private charging stations at residences, work spaces etc, we strongly believe our new offering “RE:charge stations” will help if speeding up EV ecosystem in India.

He added that as an innovative brand, we are providing the users with charging infrastructure and at the same time, offering the station owner an additional income source. This would pave the way for an increasing number of charging stations across the country. We plan to add 500 + number of e-charging stations by next March.

In the words of Jyotiranjan, Co-founder of REVOS, “We are delighted to partner with BattRE in their efforts to build sustainable EV ecosystem. With the evolving consumer needs, emerged a dire need for a unified solution for the EV ecosystem. Together we introduce to you a peer-to-peer charging network to further eliminate the range anxiety associated with EVs. It's compact, cost-effective, and can be installed anywhere with ease. Just Locate, Scan, Pay, and Use”

Any electric vehicle user can charge at these stations using their vehicle chargers. They will have to download BattRE app from Play Store, locate the nearest charger, scan QR code on the charger to start charging, and pay using UPI.