EV Charging Startup Exponent Energy Partners With Park+ To Set Up 1,000 Charging Zones

Electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure startup Exponent Energy has entered into a partnership with Park+, a super app for car owners, to set up 1,000 charging zones across India by the end of 2023, starting with Bengaluru.

“The partnership will help Exponent to build a dense e-pump network by leveraging the real estate and public parking spaces accessible to Park+,” the startup said in a statement.

The charging stations set up jointly will be branded as “Park+ EV Zones powered by Exponent” and will be deployed across high-demand hotspots of vehicle deployment and towards high EV usage regions.

“We’ve already established the new norm for a seamless charging experience through our 15 minute full charge. The next step is to make finding an e^pump as easy as a petrol pump. With Park+ and its nationwide network of structured parking spaces, we aim to achieve just that, starting with Bengaluru,” Arun Vinayak, cofounder and CEO of Exponent Energy, said.

Exponent Energy, founded in 2020 by Ather Energy’s former chief product officer Vinayak and Sanjay Byalal, aims to simplify energy for EVs. The startup claims that its battery packs and charging stations called the e-pack and e-pump, respectively, can together unlock a 0% to 100% rapid charge within 15 minutes for EVs with any number of wheels while also providing a 3,000 cycle life warranty, and all these while using regular lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells.

In August, Exponent Energy raised $13 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed. Its then existing institutional investors, including YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, and AdvantEdge VC, also participated in the round.

At the time of the fundraising, the startup said it would use the fresh funds to scale up the e-pump network to 100 location points per city, which would start with Bengaluru.

The startup also partnered with EV original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Altigreen Propulsion Labs and unveiled an electric three-wheeler that can be fully charged within 15 minutes.

Founded in 2019 by ex-Paytm VP Amit Lakhotia, Park+ helps car owners struggling with car parking, FASTag management, challans, car washing, car insurance with a comprehensive ecosystem.

The development comes at a time when the sales of EVs are on the rise in the country. In November, the total number of EV registrations in India across vehicle categories rose 2.6% MoM to almost 1.2 Lakh units. Total EV registrations in India stand at 8.9 Lakh units in 2022 so far.

However, one of the major hindrances in mass adoption of EVs is the inability to quick-charge a vehicle to a full range. A critical facilitator of EV adoption is the availability of charging infrastructure, a KPMG report said.

By 2030, India is forecasted to be home to 102 Mn EVs, with 2.9 Mn public charging stations needed to accommodate the growing EV adoption. This increasing number of public charging stations is expected to be driven by a range of players, such as pure-play charge point operators, oil marketing companies, utilities and EV fleet operators, the report added.