BLive, Ather Energy to promote EVs in India, 20 Ather Grid charging station to come up in Goa in 2021

Goa-based multi EV retail and experiential tourism platform BLive and Ather Energy have inked a strategic partnership to drive electric vehicle adoption by way of offering the experience to customers and also build charging infrastructure (Ather Grid) across popular tourist destinations in the country, starting with Goa.

As part of the understanding, BLive will set up 5 charging stations for Ather Energy across Goa this month under the brand 'BLive EV Zones'. It further plans to strengthen its presence by setting up 15 charging stations at prominent places across the state by end-2021. The start-up will also offer a first-hand Ather scooter experience and help customers with pre-booking and booking of the same through its digital BLive EV Store.

Ravneet S Phokela, chief business officer, Ather Energy said, “The electric vehicle market in India is amidst massive transformation and we have seen an exponential increase in demand for our electric scooters. We aim to leverage BLive’s strong presence, in Goa and other popular tourist destinations across India, in deploying Ather Grid and bringing the Ather experience to EV enthusiasts. Further, we hope to work very closely with BLive's range of partners, from Goa Tourism to the hospitality industry, in boosting consumer confidence in shifting to e-vehicles.”

BLive is the official EV Tourism partner of Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC). Continuing their support towards sustainable tourism and EV adoption in Goa, 'BLive EV zones' will be set up across its associated hotels.

Dayanand Sopte, chairman, GTDC said, “Goa is among the most popular tourist destinations in India, and we want Goa to set an example for sustainable tourism. GTDC supports all the efforts to make sustainable tourism and EV adoption in Goa. We want to create an environment where companies like Ather Energy and BLive can drive innovative change and lead us into the future. We aim to collaboratively encourage cleaner and sustainable ways to travel. We look forward to welcoming many such smart technologies.”

Samarth Kholkar and Sandeep Mukherjee, co-founders BLive said “We are happy to take another giant leap forward in driving the EV experience and adoption with Ather Energy across India, starting with Goa. Our partnership will help us offer premium hand-crafted experience on Ather’s e-scooter. Having Ather Energy on our EV experience platform further elevates our mission to drive EV adoption in India. We have already seen multiple pre bookings for Ather, in a few days of launch. This will only go higher and so will adoption to electric mobility."

At present, BLive has presence in 9 states across 15 locations. BLive EV Tours have completed over 15,000 e-bike tours so far.