1. Electric bus manufacturer PMI raises funds.
Electric bus manufacturer PMI Electro Mobility has raised a funding of Rs 250 crore from Piramal Alternatives, the fund management business of Piramal Group. PMI plans to deploy these funds to scale its operations and upgrade its production facilities. Currently, PMI has an order book of 2500 electric buses. Around 1200 buses are already in service in 10 states.
Government of India approved the ‘PM e-Bus Seva Scheme’ in August this year. The scheme involves deployment of 10,000 electric buses in 169 cities across the country, under public-private partnership model, within the next 10 years. The cost of this is estimated to be around $7 billion. This scheme will also have a provision for development of EV charging facilities for these electric buses. In a recent statement, PMI pointed towards expected surge in demand owing to this recently announced scheme.
2. RIVOT Motors launches an electric scooter with upgradable range.
Belagavi (Karnataka)-based electric scooter manufacturer RIVOT Motors has launched the RIVOT NX100 range of electric scooters. The NX100 features an LiMFP battery (Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate). Scientists say these LiMFP (or LMFP) batteries are competitive in cost with LFP batteries, and offer superior performance.
The NX100 offers a range of up to 300 km. The electric scooter features modular & upgradable designs. The company claims the NX100 is the world’s 1st EV which offers an upgradeable range. The scooter lineup starts with a 1.92 kWh base variant which gives a range of 100 km. Customers can upgrade it to 3.84 kWh (which gives a range of 200 km) and 5.76 kWh (300 km range) as per their need. Customers will have to pay an additional amount for the upgrade. The RIVOT NX100 sports IP67-rated batteries and has advanced safety features like face & number lock, and fingerprint detection. Prices start from Rs 89,000.
3. Latest Google Maps update includes detailed EV charging info.
In the most recent Google Maps update, the company has added features that will make intra & inter-city travel more convenient. This update is being touted as a blessing for the rapidly growing electric vehicle market. Google Maps will now provide comprehensive details about EV charging stations, including vehicle compatibility, charging speed and station availability. To tackle the issue of non-functional EV chargers, the app will now also show the last time the charger was used.
This update will make Google Maps more handy while planning long EV road trips.
4. Ather announces festive offers.
Ather Energy has announced a variety of festive offers on its electric scooters.
These offers are projected towards petrol two-wheeler owners to make the transition to electric scooters. Ather is offering an exchange value of up to Rs 40,000 for petrol two-wheelers. This exchange amount can be used as the down payment for a new Ather electric scooter. Additionally, the company has also introduced a festive discount of up to Rs 5000, a corporate discount of Rs 1500 and a credit card EMI cashback of up to Rs 6000. Ather is also offering a unique 2 year EMI scheme with an interest rate of just 5.99%. According to the company, this EMI scheme will help customers save up to Rs 12,000 on interest costs. These offers are available till November 15, 2023.
5. Charzer introduces EV charging service via WhatsApp.
EV charging company Charzer has introduced a new WhatsApp feature for customers, to provide a more convenient charging experience. Charzer’s latest solution aims to simplify the process by letting anyone start the EV charging process with a simple ‘Hi’ command sent to 7829330410 on WhatsApp. Apart from English, customers can also message in Hindi, Kannada & Telugu.
With this feature, customers can start charging their EVs without downloading any app thus making the process more easy & accessible for people who are not tech-savvy. Charzer carried out a trial run for this feature with its fleet partners and managed to save a considerable amount of time as most drivers were already familiar with WhatsApp.
For complete EV charging solutions, explore the Kazam website.
