Mumbai-headquartered technology-driven, last-mile retail network company Vakrangee today announced that it will set up an expansive electric vehicle charging infrastructure facility through its Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra outlets in India.

At present, the company has a network of 3,504 Nextgen Vakrangee Kendras spread across 19 states, 366 districts and 2,186 postal codes. Interestingly, more than 68 percent of the company's outlets are in Tier 5 and Tier 6 cities. Vakrangee says it is targeting to have a network of at least 75,000 touch-points by FY2021-22 and 300,000 outlets by FY2024-25.

The company plans to leverage its presence by being an enabler for EV charging facilities through its network of retail outlets called Vakrangee Kendras. It says it will continue to focus on expanding the bouquet of services available at its Nextgen Vakrangee Kendras.

The technology company says that operators/companies keen to offer EV services in India would benefit from leveraging Vakrangee’s EV charging infrastructure rather than building their own.

Commenting on the announcement, Dinesh Nandwana, executive chairman, Vakrangee said, “We believe that the EV space is a huge growth opportunity for the coming years and we want to be future-ready by developing an all-India footprint of EV charging infrastructure. We would be an enabler by providing the distribution platform for the EV charging facility through our partnership with EV service providers.”

The company says with the government expecting 25 percent of total vehicles on roads to be EVs by 2030, it is necessary to have robust EV charging infrastructure across the country. As per Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry guidelines, there should be at least one station at every 25km on each side of highways / roads.