Commercial EV fleet operator Lithium Urban Technologies recently tied up with renewable energy solutions provider Fourth Partner Energy to build charging infrastructure across the country. Called the Shuchi Anant Virya, the JV unveiled its first EV charging hub in Gurugram which can charge up to 25-30 vehicles simultaneously.

The facility will be used initially to charge Lithium’s fleet to Wipro and American Express in Gurugram. The JV has also commissioned a second charging facility in Pune, Maharashtra.

Speaking at the inauguration of these charging hubs, Vivek Subramanian, co-founder and ED, Fourth Partner Energy said, “The global transition to electric mobility can be considered truly green only when the increased demand for energy is met by clean, renewable sources – Shuchi was formed to address this opportunity.”

Fourth Partner Energy will provide a mix of onsite and offsite solar solutions and RE trading options to power Lithium’s fleet through this JV while the latter will be the anchor client providing base demand across hubs.

Vinayak Kathare, Business head at Shuchi spoke at length about the new facility, “This Pune facility near Kharadi is one of India’s largest EV charging hubs for four-wheelers, and has the capacity to charge over 40 vehicles at a time. The plan for FY2021 is for Shuchi to add a couple of more charging hubs across Delhi-NCR, and at least one each in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai."

Vikash Mishra, head of external relations, Lithium Urban Technologies added that, “Solar-powered EV charging infrastructure will not just close the loop on procuring clean energy for electric vehicles but will also result in improved cost-efficiency. The domestic EV market is expected to grow by 35 percent annually until 2026 and fleet operators will be the first to embrace this change. Lithium is readying India for this future of shared, connected, electric mobility. With the help of Fourth Partner Energy, we are confident of enabling this transition in a zero-Carbon manner."

Fourth Partner has an all-India portfolio of 370 MW of solar assets for clients like Coca-Cola, Walmart, Schneider, Skoda, Ferrero, TCS and McDonalds.

Lithium's all-electric fleet of over 1,000 vehicles deployed across Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Jaipur caters to over 30 corporate clients including Google, McKinsey, Credit Suisse and Barclays, all keen on reducing their carbon footprint as well as their transportation costs.