Bengaluru’s SUN Mobility Looks Ahead With Fastest Charging Station in World

Pilipinas Shell & SUN Mobility partner up

Investments in the EV sector are growing by the minute. In 2021, the sector saw investments worth $6 Bn. This number is expected to more than triple to $20 Bn by 2030. Against this backdrop, it’s no surprise that emobility firms are eyeing big projects and chasing gigantic targets.

Bengaluru’s SUN Mobility, a leading provider of universal energy infrastructure and services to accelerate mass electric vehicle usage, is spurring innovation in the space and forging significant partnerships in the space.

A look at SUN Mobility’s battery solutions (tailor made for different e-vehicles), projects and goals…

Fastest charging station in the world

Anant Badjatya, CEO, SUN Mobility claims that the firm has created the “fastest charging station in the world”. The station, he adds, can charge in “flat out one hour”. Further, it can do more than “200 swaps in a day”. The station boasts of 15 docks and 14 batteries. There have been days that the number can be pegged at 220 to 230 swaps, he shares. The battery, paired with the station, offers great security, “If you try and take out the battery, it won’t come out since it is locked. Only after the station gives the command is the battery unlocked.” The station operates on pay per use basis, so the user pays only for what he consumes.

Answering a question on installations, he replies, “We can put up a station like this in flat two days. The stations are designed and manufactured inhouse by us. Currently, there are 24 of these stations in Bengaluru while in Delhi-NCR, the number exceeds 120.”

The government has proposed the idea of having a EV charging station at a distance of every three kilometres in cities.  SUN Mobility, however, is looking at this is new light, “We are trying to work out a way by which we can have charging station every 2 kms,” Badjatya reveals.

2W Segment

SUN Mobility has joined hands with the top OEMs in the country, the firm states.

The two wheelers come with a single battery system, which is located underneath the seat, where it is safe and well-protected. Interestingly, the battery system is locked by the seat itself and no one can get access to it immediately. Each battery has inbuilt lock for added security. Unless authenticated by the station, the battery cannot be removed.

E-Rickshaw

The e-rickshaws boast of a two-battery system and lead acid batteries are used in them. Badjatya states that the firm is working directly with OEMs like Mayuri “to create a much more efficient system” than the ones they presently have. “We have worked with them on the motor control, to help achieve 80km range.”

At the same time, SUN Mobility has helped brand names like Continental develop tyre solutions. “Normally, they would get a range of 50 kms, however, with our solution, their range has witnesses an increase of over 20% and now, it stands at 70 to 80 kms purely because of the tyres.”

3W E-Rickshaw

The three-wheeler e-rickshaw comes with a three-battery system. These are high-powered vehicles, running from 4 to 5 kw of power. The information is completely integrated and available on the cluster of the vehicle. “The range it offers is over 70 km, the certified range is in excess of 90km,” says the CEO.

3W E-Auto

The three-wheeler e-auto comes with a set of a three-battery system. These e-vehicles run from 5 to 9 kw and offer a range of 50 to 60 km. In order to ensure the batteries Casing and seals- protects from water entry.

Automated pilot project on e-bus

In a significant battery solution, SUN Mobility has reduced the battery size of e-bus by 1/6th the original size. With this, the e-bus can accommodate 40 additional commuters. The same solution can be  applied to e-trucks. Says Chetan Maini, Co-Founder, Chairman at SUN Mobility, “As the battery gets bigger, it is difficult to swap them manually. The whole process has thus to be automated.” The firm piloted this automated project in 2020 and covered half a million km under it.

Maini is excited at the prospects such a project could bring, “Imagine, every 3 to 4 minutes, a bus would come and we could be swapping 24/7- just like a petrol station! It takes one hour to charge and we did a pilot of 18 buses. This is a robotically-driven solution….Imagine, that on every 100 kms on a highway, a bus or a truck comes in, and it can swap in two minutes and it is off!”

Future Ambitions

SUN Mobility has set gigantic goals for itself for the next few years. To begin with, it is eyeing 16,000 battery swap stations enabling over 3 million swaps a day by 2025.

The firm has also collaborated with TPDDL, which will pave the way for many more stations to come up. Currently, SUN Mobility is looking at setting up 200 charging stations in Delhi by March 2023. These are to come up at a distance of every 2 kms. In the same time period, the firm is looking at 80 charging stations in Bengaluru.

By 2025, SUN Mobility is set to conquer the goal of powering 1 million EVs by 2025.

As far as vehicle deployment is concerned, for FY 2023, it is looking at 20,000, going up to 1,80,000 by FY 2024 and 1 million in FY 2025.

Presently, SUN Mobility’s network is operational in over 18 cities, and it boasts of over 180 swap stations.

Projects

SUN Mobility has announced that it has won a Delhi Government tender, under which, the firm will lead projects in 31 spots along the metro line where 62 stations will be deployed. The project sees the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the Government and SUN Mobility partner up for the said project.

The CEO revealed that currently, SUN Mobility has partnerships with Bosch, Amazon, IOCL.

Market Trends

The battery-making firm mostly uses lithium as raw material for its batteries. When asked about solid state batteries and their employment in industry, Maini retorts, “While they provide more safety, they are at a nascent stage of development and not fully developed as of now. Besides, they do not have the right cycle life. Perhaps they are better suited for personal mobility, such as for iPods.”

Maini said he anticipated capacity enhancement, thanks to the approval of the PLI Scheme. He said SUN Mobility is also bullish on new technologies and is looking into them with partners since with every new technology developed, the “energy density increases by 10 per cent.”