Chetan Maini, founder of electric vehicle Reva, on Wednesday announced that he had joined hands with Sun New Energy Systems, investment company of the Sun Group to launch his new venture Sun Mobility. The new company will focus on the booming electric motor vehicle market in the country. The company, a 50:50 joint venture between Virya Mobility and Sun New Energy Systems, will focus on investing and developing electric vehicle technologies, charging infrastructure that will catalyse the electric vehicle adoption in the country. The new venture would be led by Mr. Maini, founder of Reva and Uday Khemka, Vice Chairman of Sun Group. Virya Mobility is a wholly-owned entity by the Maini brothers and focuses on investing in and developing electric vehicle technologies, while Sun New Energy Systems is the Sun Group’s investment company in the new energy space and focuses on renewable energy, electric mobility and energy storage.
Commenting on the new venture, Mr. Maini, vice chairman of Sun Mobility said: “The government’s push towards electric vehicles and creating infrastructure offers a huge potential for us. The new offerings can significantly help in reducing the cost of energy and also the electric vehicles. The cost of renewable energy, for the first time, is actually at a point where its economics look better than gasoline in recent years.” “We are planning to revolutionise the transportation sector by deploying a unique open-architecture ecosystem built around a smart network of quick interchange battery stations,” added Mr. Maini.
Mr. Maini, who founded the Bengaluru-based electric car company Reva left the company in 2015. In 2010, Mahindra & Mahindra had acquired majority stake in Reva as part of its entry into the electric passenger vehicle segment. Sun Mobility will provide energy infrastructure and services to accelerate mass electric vehicle usage. As part of the plans, it will set up energy stations, predominantly powered by renewable energy and that can refuel electric vehicles at cost lower than and speed faster than conventional petrol pumps. However the company did not disclose the details of the investments planned or how much cost reduction it can bring to the users. “Our technology and smart battery will provide more convenience for the electric car users. This energy infrastructure integrated with electric vehicles,smart batteries and clean energy will accelerate the transformation of mobility towards a sustainable, pollution-free future,” said Uday Harsh Khemka, Vice Chairman, Sun Mobility.
As part of the initial roll out of the venture Sun Mobility will do pilot projects in major cities including Bengaluru for 12-18 months to understand the customer needs and trends. The official launch of the venture is slated for 2019. The company will also partner with multiple OEMs to integrate its proprietary smart battery solution into a range of innovative electric vehicles – cars, buses, rickshaws and scooters. “The smart batteries will be modular, easily swappable, highly secure, IOT enabled and can be easily refuelled on a pay-as- you go basis,” added the officials.
Source:TH
