Hero Electric, Bolt to set-up 50,000 EV charging stations

Hero Electric has partnered Bolt an EV charging network company to set up 50,000 charging stations in India in the next one year. As part of the collaboration, Bolt chargers will be installed in more than 750 Hero Electric’s touch points across India, which the partners say will benefit over 450,000 Hero Electric customers.

Furthermore, around 2,000 Hero Electric customers will get free of cost Bolt charging units set up at their homes.

The partners say the move in sync with their goal of providing a robust, affordable and accessible charging infrastructure to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles in the country. The Bolt charging network will be leveraged both by Hero Electric’s enterprise partners and EV customers, significantly curbing range anxiety. Additionally, Bolt will be integrated within the Hero Electric App and website, offering a one-stop solution for locating a charging station, booking a slot, and payment. Post-installation of the charging stations, individuals can choose between private/public mode of operation for their charging stations and decide the price depending on existing commercial/EV tariffs. Moreover, subscription-based plans will be announced for Hero Electric riders to ease their usage. The charging network is hardware agnostic and will integrate with any charging solution provider in the country.

Hero Electric and Bolt will also undertake a pilot for IoT tracking solutions for their vehicles, which will provide fleet management and charging management solutions to all Hero Electric B2B partners. Bolt will also integrate the Bolt OS-enabled Smart speedometer solution with Hero Electric vehicles, enabling a smarter, secure and connected ecosystem, along with its charging network.

The EV charging infra company says its universal charging point is compatible with any portable charger that comes with EVs and works with the existing AC power supply everywhere. It has already installed over 10,000 charging points installed across 100 different cities in India, with an installed capacity of over 33,000KW and 50,000 active users. It aims to deploy 100,000 charging points in the next 6 months across India.

 Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric said, “A robust charging network has aided the growth of EVs by curbing range anxiety among riders. We are positive that this collaboration will broaden our efforts to reach the set objective. This partnership will benefit the industry overall and allow e2W riders easy access to charging stations pan India.”

Jyotiranjan Harichandan, co-founder, Bolt said, “This collaboration will help to create a seamless charging experience for lakhs of Hero Electric customers as they can use the existing Hero Electric app and website for discovery, booking and payment. With having a 'Charger on-demand', range anxiety will be history as we move towards achieving our goal of installing over 1 million charging points over the next 2 years.”