First solar-powered EV chargers for India unveiled in Gurgaon and Pune

India’s first fully solar-powered EV charging units have been unveiled in Gurugram (Gurgaon) and Pune, as a joint venture between Lithium Urban Technologies and Fourth Partner Energy. The facilities can recharge up to 30 and 40 EVs at the same time, respectively, and the Gurgaon unit will be used by Lithium for its fleet service to American Express and Wipro.

Two more of the facilities are planned for Delhi NCR by 2021, and one each for Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Delhi to get second e-cab service, NTPC to deploy electric buses in Andaman

Delhi NCR will soon see the launch of another electric cab service — Evera, by Prakriti E-Mobility Pvt. Ltd. — which will have 500 electric Tata Tigors in its fleet. The service will be app-based, and Prakriti will also set up 30 slow chargers and five fast chargers across New Delhi. Delhi’s first e-cab service, Blu-Smart, was launched back in January 2019.

Meanwhile, NTPC’s wholly owned subsidiary, NVVN, will launch 20, nine-meter electric buses across Andaman and Nicobar Islands from August 2020. It will support the initiative by installing public charging facilities. NTPC is India’s largest coal power producer, and the project could be an indication of the slow but steady progress towards e-mobility in India.

GM’s new soft-shell batteries could beat Tesla’s at 400 miles per charge

General Motors (GM) has reportedly developed a new EV battery that would power an electric car for up to 400 miles (640km) on a single charge, and thus potentially outpace Tesla’s superlative batteries by about 10 miles. Called Ultium, GM’s batteries also come as a soft pouch that would allow for more assembly shapes than possible with flat bed arrays of cylindrical cells.

However, the biggest outcome could be that the new technology drags EV battery prices down to below $100/kWh — which is often touted as the threshold for EVs to be truly cost-competitive with conventional cars.

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