“EVIT Charger Network Accurately Predicts EV Charging Demand” Says Vikrant Aggarwal

Electric Vehicles are rare to see on the roads. The reason is the absence of enough charging stations like conventional gas filling stations. While crossing this hurdle is a big deal for governments to achieve environmental sustainability, companies such as EVIT are pushing their way ahead to help people use electric vehicles and simultaneously improve the company's bottom line. Smart charging network, cloud-based charging sites, EVIT is into it all. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Vikrant Aggarwal, COO of EVI Technologies.

1.Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers.

EVI Technologies Private Limited (EVIT) is India's fastest-growing EV charging solutions Infrastructure Company based in New Delhi. The company was founded by IIT Delhi alumni in June 2017 and incubated by Electropreneur Park (funded & Supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), GoI). The company is offering end-to-end E-mobility solutions focused on the highest quality standards, sustainable reliability, and sustained performance. Our company designs EV chargers that work through the user authentication process via a mobile app on the user/operator side and charging will start once the user is verified. This complete process includes the central server, mobile app, and charger (hardware) at the site with standard charging protocols.

2.With what mission and objectives, the company was set up? In short, tell us about your journey since the inception of the company.

Cofounders of EVI Technologies join hands to make products related to electric vehicles in the year 2016 at the IITD campus. At that time, the team decided that there will be an EV market in the country by 2019 and for that there should be a significant EV charger presence. Initially, the theoretical design and PoC were done, and then later one cofounder (Rupesh) who was doing his thesis in Germany under the DAAD program through IIT Delhi, started working on the practical aspects. Here, a lot of experience was required to convert this idea into reality, and the co-founder's experience helped. Vikrant worked in the power sector for almost 8 years where he learned so many things related to power systems, and handled project contracts and management part for almost 6 years. Rahul Soni joined the team as a cofounder in late 2019 having good electronics background and handling EV projects in the company.

The team made a foolproof plan (technical) before presenting the idea to the incubation center (Electropreneur Park). Initially, they were rejected due to the non-existence of EVs at that time and the business model was not supported as there were fewer customers in the market (only electric rickshaws were present in the market at that time). Later due to technical solid capability & profile, they got a chance to prove their talent by getting pre-incubation and showing a prototype of an EV charger within 3 months. At that time, they invested themselves in the development while sitting at the incubation center and made the prototype in 1.5 months only and got incubation. After incubation, the start-up worked on the product side for a few months and converted the prototype into a market product.

3.Mention some of the awards, achievements, recognitions, and clients' feedback that you feel are notable and valuable for the company.

Our company got awards from multiple industry bodies like IESA, TiE-NCR, AICRA, etc.

4.Kindly mention some of the major challenges the company has faced till now.

The challenges in the EV space are:

State EV policy: Most of the states in India have yet to launch their EV policy to enable the RTO to define the facilities for the EV user. Currently, 10 states have notified EV policy in draft or final version to be implemented in the state for EV penetration. More clarity is required in terms of the infrastructure development and local bodies like municipal and development authority roles to make the easy way for the end user.

Standardization on the battery: Battery standards for two and three-wheelers should be finalized fast if the market picks up.  

As of now the connector of the battery is also not standardized which creates a lot of friction between the vehicle OEM, battery provider, and charging infra provider for the battery swapping process.

5.What is your biggest USP that differentiates the company from competitors?

Our USP lies in flexible designs that meet global standards. EVIT products are designed & developed integrating efficient and robust power technologies with advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) based algorithms, enabling a perfect product catered to the market. EV charging solutions come with flexibility and compatibility developed as per market demand, complying with global standards, and are completely an indigenous development from the EVIT team. The connected EVIT charger network generates data and reports helping electricity distribution agencies to accurately predict and meet EV charging demand. The EV charger and server connection also enhance the EV user experience with faster navigation to chargers, remote charging control, and advanced booking services. We are the first-mover with India's first, indigenously developed, technologically superior, low-cost, EV charging stations.

Our strength lies in

• Operating in a high-growth e-mobility industry, with huge unmet demand and practically no supply of reliable charging infrastructure
• Addressing the problem of lack of Charging Infrastructure
• Unique business model enabling it to focus on strategic activities like technology development, R&D, and business retention while sales and promotion are outsourced to Trade Partners
• Well-aligned team, of IIT-D graduates, with diverse backgrounds and relevant experience. In-house designing and development of the product enable us to customize the product as per the customer's requirements and this makes us different in the market.

6.How do you see the company and the industry in the future ahead?

Being an EV charger manufacturer market opportunity expanded from hardware to software solutions for the entire EV industry, which makes it a bigger market in the auto sector. Secondly, one of the biggest problems that India faces now is pollution and urban mobility. Millions of gas-guzzling vehicles are clogging our roads and polluting the air. The solution lies in electric vehicles (EVs). The biggest problem is charging infrastructure EVs and Batteries are expensive and account for almost 50-60% of a vehicle's costs. Swappable batteries are an option, but they require ubiquitous charging and swapping points. The government cannot rapidly set them up across the country and private players find the costs humongous.

The answer, I believe, lies in our EOFO (EVIT-owned Franchise Operated) model. It will empower millions of entrepreneurs to set up private, for-profit charging stations. If we set the right policy, we can have electric chargers in every nook and corner of the country. These franchises, or public charge offices, would have batteries to swap, a bank of chargers to charge them with, and refreshments while we wait. They could be e-commerce package drop points, biometric facilities for Aadhaar, and other services. But, primarily, they would charge EVs with clean electricity—some coming from the grid, some perhaps from solar power generated locally. Mobile phones with apps to schedule our charging time may help and even pay for it.

Most importantly, these EV charges/ Swapping stations will give millions of our educated jobless youth an opportunity to make a decent living.

7.What are your growth plans for the next 12 months?

1st phase: In April-Sep 2022, the Company executed the process to plant the charging stations in Delhi, Noida & Ghaziabad.

2nd phase: The Company has planned to extend the installation of charging stations in the Mumbai region from Oct-Dec 2022.

8.What is EVI technologies company and business roadmap like for 2022-2023?

1st phase: In April-Sep 2022, the Company executed the process to plant the charging stations in Delhi, Noida & Ghaziabad.

2nd phase: The Company has planned to extend the installation of charging stations in the Mumbai region from Oct-Dec 2022.

9.Which industry verticals are you currently focusing on? And what is your go-to-market strategy for the same?

The current focus is to be in the industry as a design house for EV chargers and charging infra provider for fleet partners. For us, we are trying to get more prime locations in the center of the cities and towns to convert it into a good return in the near future for EV charging and battery Swapping.

10.What is the edge your company has over other players in the industry?

We offer end-to-end solutions in E-mobility to our clients. Each main component and software are in-house production. Excellent technical team with knowledge (know-how) of EV and power sector.

11.The advancement of EVI technologies has influenced customers on their current and future needs. Explain the challenges customers face to have the EVI technologies in place.

There are multiple stages of every new technology to settle in the market. In EVs, the right time will be when the number of EVs on road will be half of the ICE-based vehicles. And for that number someone has to invest and wait with the right location and operators in the entire system domain of the EV industry. We are trying to get more prime locations in the center of the cities and towns and convert them into return-generating assets in the near future in the EV charging and battery swapping domains.

12.What role have EVI technologies played in the innovations of new technologies?

There are multiple stages of every new technology to cross for it to settle in the market. With EVs, the right time will be when the number of EVs on road will be half of the ICE-based vehicles. And for that number someone has to invest and wait with the right location and operators in the entire system domain of the EV industry.