Uber partners Sun Mobility to start e-auto service

Global shared-mobility service provider Uber today announced a partnership with Bangalore-based Chetan Maini-backed Sun Mobility, a leading energy infrastructure and services provider, to deploy e-autos on its platform.

As part of the partnership, Sun Mobility will offer its unique energy infrastructure platform, which includes swappable Smart Batteries and Quick Interchange Stations to select OEMs for building e-autos. The company says fleet owners and Uber’s driver partners will benefit because they will be able to buy vehicles without the battery that will bring down initial costs significantly. Uber says they will receive charged, swappable batteries as a service by Sun Mobility, thereby helping bring the overall cost of e-autos in line with their ICE-engine counterpart.

Commenting on the partnership, Pradeep Parameswaran, president Uber India and South Asia said, “We are delighted to partner with Sun Mobility, an industry pioneer to try to usher in a wave of electric vehicles in the mass market category. This is an important step forward in fulfilling our vision for creating a mobility ecosystem that is sustainable, provides cleaner air and helps build smarter cities across the region.’’

Speaking about the alliance, Chetan Maini, co-founder and vice-chairman, Sun Mobility said, “Our mission is to give users a cost-effective and convenient energy infrastructure solution to accelerate the adoption of EVs. Partnering with Uber, the leading global player in personal mobility, will help create a wide EV landscape at scale, that will transform the way people commute.”

In the coming months, this partnership will be piloted across select cities. Uber says using its knowledge and expertise in creating global mobility platforms combined with Sun Mobility’s unique energy infrastructure will help accelerate the adoption of convenient and affordable zero-emission mobility across India.

Recently, the Indian government has started offering several incentives to accelerate rollout of EVs, such as NITI Aayog’s FAME II proposal, which aims to boost electric mobility by faster manufacturing and adoption of hybrid and electric vehicles. The scheme provides a budget of Rs 10,000 crore to accelerate adoption of EV’s and recommends phasing out internal combustion engine three-wheelers by 2023 and two-wheelers by 2025.