How ION Energy Is Enabling a Multinational Electronics Company to Accelerate India’s EV Transition

The EV space in India is expected to be driven by two and three-wheelers. Tapping into India’s mobility future, our customer aims to propel the EV transition by addressing the EV charging needs with the help of battery swap models and setting up local battery pack manufacturing facilities in the country.

Battery swapping is expected to decrease upfront costs and accelerate adoption in specific categories of EVs. The technology intends to increase available run time, eliminate wait time for charging, reduce battery size, and minimize the total cost of ownership (TCO). The model is likely to be adopted for two and three-wheelers.

• Battery swapping technology reduces range anxiety.

• Swapping stations can pack up to 15-20 ready-to-use battery packs. With adequate stations in place, the number of EVs that can access a swapping station as compared to a charge point is 10x.

• Fast charging could lead to battery life degradation. Swapped batteries can be charged in a controlled environment to extend battery life. In the swapping business, the life of the battery will determine the commercial viability and success of the model. The longer that battery swapping companies can maintain a battery’s performance, the better is the ROI on every asset.

• Adoption by e-rickshaws stems from the fact that their routes are more standardized, making it easier to identify locations where swapping stations would see sufficient demand.

With a three-phase launch plan in place, the customer intends to design batteries for electric two and three-wheelers and will continue to build battery packs for public and private transportation in the future and potentially expand their presence in 10 key cities.

• The customer started their search for a reliable partner who understands the Indian EVmarket and has deep domain expertise in energy storage, electric mobility, and technology.

• The initial phase involved building a minimum viable product (MVP) for their customers – thebattery swap station managers, to enable easy availability of electric power.

• In the second phase, the customer plans to upgrade the MVP’s design to scale up and beginsmall-volume manufacturing at 300-5000 battery packs.

• In the third phase, the customer has plans to build new custom models and types of battery packs with an integrated BMS board. Depending on the success of phase 2, they plan to ramp up the quantity of battery packs to extend their trials and deploy them on the road across tenkey cities in India, through battery swap stations.