Massive Mobility, Hero in Pact for 10,000 Charging Stations

Hero Electric, India’s largest two wheeler electric vehicle maker, has signed an agreement with Massive Mobility to install 10,000 EV chargers across the country, in a bid to increase its charging infrastructure by nearly tenfold, reports start up specialist site Entrackr.

The move comes amidst a flurry of similar announcements building up across the country, as multiple stakeholders finally acknowledge that the possibility of 6 million 2 wheeler EV’s being sold in India by 2025-26 is a real possibility now, and not just a fancy projection. The country, which saw two wheeler sales hit an all time high of 21 million in 2019, is seeing a far faster adoption of electric 2 wheelers currently, as compared to 4 wheelers.

Massive Mobility, which was possibly considering making the announcement on September 9, during its MobilityNXT event, has finally confirmed the move today.

Massive Mobility is a Delhi-based EV startup offering end-to-end EV charging solutions and hopes to install these chargers over the next 12 months, focusing primarily on cities where Hero Electric sees the right response in terms of sales and a ready market. The chargers, by working for other brands too, will seek to make their own case for a owned as well as franchisee model.  

We reached out to Shailesh Vickram Singh, Co-Founder at Massive Mobility, and while confirming the development, Shailesh has promised a more detailed response later today or tomorrow.

The charging stations planned under this agreement will have a 16 amp charging connection, a Wi-Fi network and a metre. The wifi network will help  possible users connect seamlessly for payments, it seems.  

Massive Mobility has been running small pilot trials in various locations, especially in the NCR region, to check for user response and behaviour.

Hero Electric, as the leading firm by sales currently, albeit on a low base, faces a huge challenge from Ola Electric, which has promised to ramp up to manufacturing 1 million vehicles per annum soon. It plans to start production at its Tamil Nadu plant from October.

Another key player, Ather Energy, has a significant stake from Hero Electric, and it has been moving aggressively to expand its retail presence as well as charging network. Ather recently opened up its patented fast charging technology to rivals. One more sign that the industry is seeing unprecedented levels of cooperation between firms to make the eco-system better for all consumers.