New Motion to build electric car charge stations in India

With the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMP 2020) kicking in, the electric vehicle industry is seeing new investments as the financial year begins.

New Motion, one of the world's largest smart charging companies, is investing about Rs1,000 crore to set up a manufacturing facility in India and it a global manufacturing hub – incidentally giving a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'make in India' campaign.

"In Europe there'll be 3 million electric vehicles in the coming 5 years. We expect the numbers in India to be much larger than that," said Ritsaart Montfrans, founder and chief executive of New Motion.

"By building a manufacturing facility in India, we are trying to bring down the cost of charging - it needs to be affordable for India," he added.

While charging a car using a regular power socket takes about 6-7 hours, New Motion's smart chargers can charge 80 per cent of the vehicle battery in 15-30 minutes.

Montfrans said based on the outcomes and the overall cost of manufacturing in India, the company would be looking at selling its chargers to other countries from India.

He also said that while the government has been very supportive so far in building the electric vehicle ecosystem in the country, funds have been lacking so far. "Now with the first Rs1,000 crore funds allotted by the finance ministry for the pilot projects, that limitation is no more there," he said.

Experts feel the much needed push from the government would encourage people to start using electric bikes and cars by making them more cost effective.

Under the NEMMP, it is estimated that the government will need to provide support to the tune of Rs13,000-14,000 crore over the next five-six years.

For such a system to take off, strategically placed smart charging stations are vital.

The main challenge that EVs face in India and elsewhere is the customers' fear of the range limitations of the vehicle before it needs recharging, and this can only be met if there are enough charging points in a particular region.