Battery Swapping Firm RACE Energy Sets Foot into Sri Lanka Market

Battery Swapping Firm RACE Energy Sets Foot into Sri Lanka Market

Hyderabad’s RACE Energy, a deep-tech electric vehicle infrastructure firm for battery swapping, has marked its entry into international markets by stepping foot into the Sri Lankan market.

RACE Energy has joined hands with Lanka E-Mobility Solutions (LeMS) towards piloting its battery swapping technology. This announcement comes under the ‘e-wheel’ brand for electric three-wheelers in Colombo.

The pilot will see the launch of 25 vehicles and three swapping stations across Colombo with scope for expansion to 500 vehicles in the span of the 3-6 months that follow. RACE has a pay-as-you-go solution and swapping process that is said to benefit 1.2 million of Sri Lanka’s ‘Tuk’ drivers.

Arun Sreyas, Co-Founder, RACE Energy stated, “We offer the most advanced, light, safe, and energy-dense swappable batteries in the market. The decision to venture into international markets like Sri Lanka and partner with LeMS, the largest three-wheeler player in the country, stems from the resonating market and environmental dynamics shared between India and Sri Lanka, in addition to the urgency for electric solutions in Lanka.”

Gautham Maheswaran, Co-Founder, RACE Energy added, “Since establishing RACE in 2019, we have emerged as a leader in Hyderabad’s EV market, catering to more than 50 percent of the region’s EV segment and facilitating over 1,000 daily swaps. As the first battery swapping company to receive the AIS 156 Phase-2 certifications, we always push towards setting new benchmarks in the industry. With the pilot in Sri Lanka, we hope to extend our instant swapping technology in India and beyond international waters to proliferate e-mobility adoption.”

Shirendra Lawrence, Co-Founder and Director, Lanka e-Mobility Solutions remarked, “The entire conversion process, which includes the replacement of the conventional petrol engine with a brand-new electric motor and drivetrain, takes just two hours. Once converted, the vehicle can immediately start using our battery-swapping services. With Sri Lanka having more three-wheelers per capita than even India, the birthplace of these vehicles, we at LeMS are providing three-wheeler owners with a cost and time-effective option for electrification.”

Sri Lanka is currently facing a fuel crisis, which necessitates the adoption of electric mobility in the island nation. As of now, Sri Lanka has a large number of tuk-tuks, exceeding 1.2 million, primarily imported from India. Earlier, Sri Lanka had announced its intention to convert 500,000 tuk-tuks in five years’ time.

In June, RACE Energy inaugurated its 10,000 sq. ft. battery production facility, equipped with a 50 MWh battery production plant, which can manufacture 30,000 batteries per annum.