India will introduce an electric three-wheeler passenger vehicle that can charge from 0% to 100% in 15 minutes. The launch of the new EV, a partnership between automaker Omega Seiki Mobility and battery technology start-up Exponent Energy, is part of India's ambition to electrify 80% of all three-wheelers by 2030 in a bid to cut emissions. It was held inside.
The new three-wheeler is called Stream City Quick and will be launched on Friday at a price of $3,900 (INR 324,999) and will go on sale in Delhi and Bengaluru from May 15. It is a successor to the previous Omega Stream City and features a proprietary 8.8kWh battery pack, giving it a range of over 86 miles (126 kilometers). It is equipped with Exponent Energy's charging technology, which the startup claims can fully charge the battery in 15 minutes when connected to the startup's charging station (called an e^pump).
Currently, Exponent Energy has installed 60 charging stations across six cities – Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The company said it plans to install 100 charging stations in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru in 2024 and a total of 1,000 charging stations by 2025, all of which will be available to Stream City Quick drivers.
The partnership marks Exponent Energy, a Bengaluru-based startup, expanding into new territory as it had previously offered fast charging technology for three-wheelers only for cargo and vehicle operations. According to government data, the passenger three-wheeler segment in India is more than four times the number of cargo three-wheelers. This sector grew by over 43% and in January alone he sold over 45,000 three-wheeled vehicles.
Tricycles are popular among gig workers in India and are used to transport ride-hailing passengers and deliver packages. The Indian government is encouraging companies to manufacture electric three-wheelers and is subsidizing their sales to attract customers.
The partnership between Exponent Energy and Omega Seiki builds on the former's previous partnership. In 2022, Exponent launched a cargo three-wheeler equipped with the company's fast charging technology in collaboration with Reliance Industries-backed Altigreen and Montra Electric, owned by Indian conglomerate Murugappa Group. The startup also partnered with Morgan Stanley and BP Ventures-backed Magenta Mobility and Fyn Mobility to provide fast charging for its vehicles. Currently, Exponent Energy's technology is installed in more than 1,000 vehicles that have completed more than 100,000 charging sessions, and the company aims to expand its fleet to 25,000 vehicles by 2025.
“We started with cargo to prove the technology,” Arun Vinayak, co-founder and CEO of Exponent Energy, told TechCrunch in an interview. “As we scale, we find that individual drivers really prefer fast charging because they can't charge their cars at home. And they are much more satisfied with their desire to drive more distance… They need to keep running and go wherever the demand is and go wherever the passengers need to go.”
Exponent Energy and Omega Seiki Mobility conducted a controller pilot over the past two months to test consumer behavior. They found that the tricycle, carrying up to three passengers, was used by his two drivers in turn to exploit demand in the city, sometimes traveling for up to 22 hours per day. Ta. This makes access to fast charging important for passenger tricycles. Another alternative to fast charging in this case might be battery replacement, but Vinayak says that doesn't work on a large scale.
“If you don't charge the replacement battery quickly, it will die. Also, because these are replaceable batteries, the battery size is limited and the range is also quite limited,” he said. Told.
Technology supporting tricycle upgrades
Exponent Energy's battery technology includes lithium-ion batteries and an in-house battery management system that monitors all cells in real-time while charging. Additionally, the startup has its own charging station that uses an off-board thermal management system that transfers cooling water through the charging plug. This maintains the temperature of each battery cell during charging, allowing a 0-100% charge in 15 minutes and a 3,000-cycle lifetime guarantee.
Vinayak told TechCrunch that while other EV charging stations typically charge two vehicles, Exponent Energy's charging stations provide 10 times the efficiency by charging 20 to 30 vehicles each day. Told. Similarly, installing an Exponent charging station costs him nearly $6,000 (INR 500,000), while a CNG station costs hundreds or thousands of dollars. This will limit the use of CNG to around 60 locations in Bengaluru, while Exponent Energy already has 40 charging stations in the city, an executive said.
Image credit: Omega Seiki Mobility
“When you give people very quick refueling capabilities, very quick recharging capabilities, and a network that is reliable and dense enough, people don't really care about range,” he said.
Stream City Qik will be available in Delhi and Bengaluru first, and will be rolled out to new cities later this year. Omega Seiki Mobility is also optimistic about bringing its fast-charging three-wheeler to markets outside India once it gains enough traction.
“I can develop markets all over the world. Testing is being done in Southeast Asia, Bangladesh and across Africa,” Omega Seiki Mobility founder and chairman Uday Narang told TechCrunch. .
New Delhi-based Omega Seiki Mobility has three factories in northern India and one in the eastern state of Jharkhand, with an annual production capacity of 20,000 vehicles. Meanwhile, Exponent Energy has the capacity to build 500 charging units per month, and starting in July he plans to increase this to 3,000 by August.
At $3,900 (INR 324,999), the Stream City Qik is priced competitively with other electric and petrol three-wheelers in the Indian market. Mr. Vinayak and Mr. Narang said that they are not thinking about winning the competition on pricing, but they want to help eliminate tricycle drivers' worries about charging and increase their monthly income by up to 30%.
Founded in 2020, Exponent Energy counts Eight Roads Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and TDK Ventures among its major investors and has raised $44.4 million to date. The company aims to generate annual recurring revenue of $6 million in 2023 and reach approximately $72 million by 2025. The company is also considering introducing charging technology to electric buses in India later this year.