EV battery swapping stations at petrol pumps across 10 Indian cities soon

The stations will house 2Ws, 3Ws, and other OEMs, and the user can search for the nearest battery-swapping station using the Bounce app. Using the app, the customer can unlock a fully charged battery from the charging pod and switch it with the used one. The battery replacement procedure normally takes three minutes.

Bounce Infinity electric scooter

Bounce Infinity launched its Infinity E1 EV scooter in India last year with the battery-as-a-service option. EVs with swappable batteries can quickly swap out a drained battery for a new one and get back on the road within minutes. The company plans to increase the adoption of electric vehicles with removable batteries, with a clear advantage over those with permanent batteries. The latter requires at least an hour of charging time, and a swappable battery can easily be exchanged for a new one when it runs out of juice, cutting down on the EV charging time.

Vivekananda Hallakere, Co-founder and CEO of Bounce, commented on the announcement, “This partnership reiterates our commitment towards a cleaner and pollution-free country by making our network accessible to consumers at the same scale and convenience as refuelling. We look forward to a long-lasting partnership between Bounce Infinity and BPCL.”

Another advantage is that battery swapping stations take up a very little area compared to EV charging stations. Each vehicle has to be parked near a charger for around an hour at the charging stations to fuel up. There is no need for a battery charging station if a small warehouse with charged batteries can serve many electric vehicles at once.

The Indian government previously announced that anyone could open a public charging station (PCS) without obtaining a licence. The government intends to reduce transportation carbon emissions following the COP26 commitment with this decision.