Energy storage provider Exicom has won the tender to deploy 2,000 Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers under the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) procurement program.

In March 2018, Mercom had reported that EESL, in India’s second EV tender, announced that it would procure 10,000 EVs. These EVs are being procured under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) India program.

Under the tender, 1,800 of 3.3 kW AC chargers and 200 of 15 kW DC fast chargers will be deployed across the country. The chargers will be used to power TATA Tigor and Mahindra e-Verito cars procured by EESL.

Tata Motors had won the bid to supply 10,000 EVs to EESL in October 2017. Tata Motors was to supply the EVs in two phases.

Anant Nahata, the managing director of Exicom was quoted as saying in a media release, “We are grateful and excited to participate in this project and support the ambitious plan of Indian government and NITI Aayog to push electric vehicles. This will also drive down costs and carbon emissions. Such initiatives will create local manufacturing facilities and grow technical competencies for the long-term growth of the EV industry in India”.

In an exclusive interview with Mercom recently, Nahata had noted India’s renewable energy sector needs a strong backbone in the form of a robust energy storage industry in order to sustain its growth trajectory.

Mercom previously reported that competition is heating up in India’s EV sector as the Indian government is currently targeting the sale of 6-7 million new hybrid and electric vehicles by 2020 under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), making EVs the next big cleantech opportunity in India. A study by Niti Aayog and the Rocky Mountain Institute released in November highlighted the staggering potential of India’s EV market.

Image credit: By Ride_and_Drive [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Wikimedia Commons