Mobility unicorn Ola Electric in talks to set up public chargers
- ByTejika Bajaj | December 29, 2021
Amid delays in the launch of its EV scooters, the mobility unicorn Ola Electric is looking to build infrastructure for charging batteries by setting up public chargers across the country. The Bengaluru-based mobility firm is in advanced talks to tie-up with Bharat Petroleum to set up its fast chargers- hyperchargers– at petrol pumps across the country.
Sources reveal that the company is also in talks with multiple builders and real estate developers to set up charging points at their premises. Internally, the company has set a target of setting up 140 charging points across the country by March 2022, sources said. It has been decoded that the company plans to inaugurate the first public charger early next month.
According to people close to the development of the company’s plans, Ola Electric plans to monetise these charging stations by asking customers to pay for the service in the long term, though it could be free initially or for the first set of customers. The company has yet to decide on that, they said.
“Multiple deployments have already started in BPCL locations in major cities like Bengaluru, New Delhi, Chennai,” said a second source. Ola Electric has yet to sync the software of the hyper-charger with the scooter. “It will take a while, but it will happen soon,” the person said.
The Bengaluru based startup plans to open up these chargers to other brands in future if the manufacturers choose to have Ola’s charging cable standards installed in their vehicles. The Ola Hypercharger will also be the fastest two-wheeler charging network, it said. Ola S1s can be charged 50% in 18 minutes for a 75-km range as per company claims.
Ola Hyperchargers will be widely deployed across cities and will be found in city centres as well as dense business districts as standalone towers, it had said. It will also be put up in popular locations such as malls, IT parks, office complexes, cafes and more, it added.
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