Fourth Partner Energy, Lithium Urban form JV to set up solar-powered EV charging infrastructure

Commercial EV fleet operator Lithium Urban Technologies has formed a 50:50 joint venture with renewable energy solutions provider Fourth Partner Energy to build charging infrastructure across the country.

In this JV, Fourth Partner Energy will provide a mix of onsite and offsite solar solutions and RE trading options to power Lithium’s fleet, while Lithium will be the anchor client providing base demand across hubs.

The joint venture, called Shuchi Anant Virya, opened its first EV charging hub in Gurugram, which is capable of charging 25-30 vehicles simultaneously. The facility will be used initially to charge Lithium’s fleet to Wipro and American Express in Gurugram.

Speaking to pv magazine, Fourth Partner Energy co-founder and ED Vivek Subramanian shared: “The grid connection [for the charging facility] is 320 kVA HT. The charger type is a mix of 20kW fast chargers and slow charging points. The average time taken is 40 minutes to one hour for fast-charging and around 4 hours for slow-charging.”

Fourth Partner has a pan-India solar portfolio of 370 MW for clients like Coca Cola, Walmart, Schneider, Skoda, Ferrero, TCS and McDonalds.

“Partnering with Lithium helps both companies better leverage our strengths in providing sustainable solutions and cost benefits to India’s leading corporate houses,” Vivek added.

The JV has also commissioned a second charging facility in Pune, Maharashtra, and plans to add a couple of more charging hubs in FY 21.

“The Pune facility near Kharadi is one of India’s largest EV charging hubs for four-wheelers; and has the capacity to charge over 40 vehicles at a time. The plan for FY 21 is for Shuchi to add a couple of more charging hubs across Delhi-NCR, and at least one each in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai,” said Shuchi business head Vinayak Kathare.

Lithium’s all-electric fleet of over 1,000 vehicles deployed across Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Jaipur caters to over 30 corporate clients, including Google, McKinsey, Credit Suisse and Barclays.

Speaking about the partnership, Lithium Urban Technologies head of external relations Vikash Mishra said, “Businesses are becoming increasingly conscious of better environmental practices. Solar-powered EV charging infrastructure will not just close the loop on procuring clean energy for electric vehicles but will also result in improved cost efficiency. The domestic EV market is expected to grow by 35% annually till 2026 and fleet operators will be the first to embrace this change. Lithium is readying India for this future of shared, connected, electric mobility. With the help of Fourth Partner Energy, we are confident of enabling this transition in a zero-Carbon manner.”