Electric vehicles (EVs) are disrupting the mobility space worldwide with technologies that are shaping the future of mobility and will continue to do so for the next few decades. The synergies of technological breakthroughs, global regulatory acceptance, finances, and environmental sustainability have led to a virtual revolution in the mobility sector. However, there is a massive deficit in the global EV charging infrastructure, especially in India which has witnessed slow EV adoption and even slower growth in EV charging infrastructure, with only ~1,800 charging facilities available in the country.
Hopcharge is attempting to change this state of affairs with the world’s first on-demand, doorstep, fast EV charging services. The company co-founders, Arjun Singh and Saurabh Rohilla, as veterans of the energy and mobility sectors, had identified a huge demand-supply mismatch in the EV charging sub-segment, estimating conservatively a market potential of approximately $19 billion for just four-wheeler EVs in India.
“Companies across the globe are trying to solve the EV charging problem, and one element of the solution is to mimic gasoline refueling time, making it smooth for EV adopters. Hopcharge was therefore conceived to make the transition to EVs convenient, reliable, and affordable and became the world’s first on-demand, doorstep EV charging service company, backed by its patented technology in India and USA,” says Singh, the CEO and co-founder. “We are making EV charging easy with our approach to provide everything on-demand on the EV user’s doorstep. By offering plug-and-play energy anywhere and at any time, we are creating a better refuelling experience for EV owners.
”The startup had also identified that residential home chargers that use AC take hours to do the job, impacting the mobility of EV owners. Besides, not everyone is lucky enough to have an independent house to install a charger. “Even if one is in a position to install a home charger, one must go through the process of load sanction, site inspection, installation, etc. While public chargers that use DC are fast, they do not do so at the user’s residence. Hopcharge gets round this problem, helping users avoid home installation hassles, save time, reduce per km running cost and enjoy professional battery health management services,” says Rohilla, co-founder and chief growth officer of Hopcharge.
Hopcharge aims to provide EV users a hassle-free charging experience through a proprietary energy pod that has lithium ion-based energy storage and a rapid charger, which can charge EVs at the same speed as a public fast charger. This innovative charging system also has connected and portable power banks with high power-charging capabilities specifically designed for EVs.
The platform has deployed its own hardware (mobile, modular, and plug & play), which complements the existing infrastructure and avoids expensive grid upgrades, eventually making EV charging costs affordable. Hopcharge has developed its proprietary technology from scratch. The ePODs are complemented by a user mobile app available on both Android and iOS and supported by a technology enabled back-end energy management system to execute the end-to-end process. These ePODs act like other fixed fast chargers, but with increased utilisation, and ensure greater convenience.
Hopcharge has served 100+ unique customers, completed 255+ doorstep fast-charging sessions, powered 50K+ zero-emission EV kilometres, and reduced 3.3+ tonne of carbon dioxide emissions only through small-scale early-stage deployment in a short duration of three to four months.
Since its inception, the company has deployed multiple ePODs across Delhi NCR, and plans to deploy 100 more across all major metropolitan cities by 2023.
