1. Chinese EV major BYD joins hands with 3 EV charging companies in India.
BYD India has joined hands with 3 EV charging companies with a combined network of 1000 charging stations across the country.
The 3 companies are: Chargezone, Volttic & IndiPro. At present, BYD India sells just a 3-row electric MPV ‘e6’ in the Indian market.
Out of the 3 partners, Chargezone operates 650 EV charging stations across India.
Volttic has a network of 300 charging stations. IndiPro is a Gujarat-based company which provides end-to-end EVSE solutions.
2. Inspection of sites for setting up EV charging stations in Navi Mumbai.
Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) and Power Grid Corporation of India will carry out a joint inspection of potential sites for setting up EV charging stations. The municipal corporation has planned to install 20 charging stations, out of which 2 have already been set up.
A private company also opened a multi-point charging station in Navi Mumbai last year. The municipal corporation is also planning cafeterias for charging station users who’ll wait there while there EVs are being charged.
3. Apple granted an EV charging station related patent.
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office granted Apple a patent pertaining to features related to an EV charging station.
Apple notes that getting out of a vehicle to connect it to a charging station may be inconvenient for the operator of the vehicle. The systems & methods described in the patent allow an electric vehicle to connect to a charging station without manual connection by an operator. This is Apple's second granted patent with respect to EV charging.
Apple shares gained 1.8% the day they got the patent.
4. Tata Motors unveils ‘Nexon EV Max’ with a 437 km certified range.
Tata Motors has launched the Nexon EV Max in India priced at around Rs.18 lakhs. This new Nexon variant gets a 437 km battery range, which is the best range for an India-made vehicle. The MG ZS EV has a 461 km range, while the Hyundai Kona EV has a 452 km range. Both the cars are being offered in India through the CKD (completely knocked-down kits) route and are not completely India-made.
The Nexon EV Max also gets a bigger battery pack rated at 40.5 kWh. It is 33% larger than the Nexon EV's 30.2 kWh unit.
Tata Motors claims its new EV goes from 0 to 100 km/hr in under 9 seconds.
5. ElectricPe to partner with independent charge point operators to build an EV charging network.
Founded in 2021, ElectricPe offers EV charging solutions and a dedicated app which helps access EV charging points. The startup calls itself ‘OEM agnostic’ and is planning to partner with independent charge point operators (CPOs) and bring them onboard the ElectricPe platform.
ElectricPe has previously tied up with Hero Electric which allows access to Hero’s riders for using ElectricPe’s charging network.