BPCL, Bounce Infinity partner to set up battery swapping stations

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a ‘Maharatna’ and Fortune Global 500 company, and Bounce Infinity have announced they have joined hands to fortify the Bounce Infinity’s extensive battery swapping infrastructure.

Under this partnership, Bounce Infinity will set up battery swapping stations across Bharat Petroleum fuel stations in a phased manner.

The company aims to set up 3,000 stations across top 10 cities.

Consumers looking to swap their nearly drained batteries can search for the nearest swapping location on the Bounce App, the company said in a press statement.

The smart framework will cater not only to the company's retail business, but will also support the interoperable partners (2W’s, 3W’s & other OEM’s) for ease of mobility across geographies and form factors i.e two wheelers & three wheelers. Battery swapping as a solution would also support those two wheelers and three wheelers that have been converted to EV from ICE, it said.

Battery swapping forms an obvious alternative to charging given the quick replenishment of battery charge, relief from domestic charging woes and lower upfront cost of EVs, given that battery leasing replaces battery ownership. Given battery swapping reduces the upfront cost of the scooter by 40-50 percent, we believe this would accelerate the EV adoption in the country, the statement added.

How do swapping stations work?

The Infinity swapping stations work on similar principles to a fuel station. Here, Infinity battery swapping stations will have charged and ready-to-go batteries that customers can easily swap with their near-empty batteries in under a few minutes. With this infrastructure in place, customers wouldn’t have to wait for the scooter to charge, be anxious about the range or remember to charge it.

Commenting on the partnership, Vivekananda Hallakere, Co-Founder and CEO, Bounce, said, “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”.

Commenting on the partnership, P S Ravi, Executive Director In-Charge (Retail), BPCL, said, “We are delighted to partner with Bounce Infinity. India’s personal mobility is primarily driven by two-wheelers who form the largest part of our valued customer base and the two-wheeler segment has been the early adopters of electric two wheelers."

Battery swapping to reduce vehicle downtime

Battery swapping with pre-charged batteries from Bounce Infinity will significantly reduce the vehicle downtime adding customer convenience and reducing range anxiety. The interoperability feature offered by Bounce Infinity will help us to serve a larger spread of EV customers and will help in the growth of this important battery swapping segment in the EV space in the country, he said.

This partnership focussed on urban markets complements BPCL’s overall EV charging roadmap of setting up fast charging corridors across major highways in the country inter-connecting major cities and economic centres and will have a network of 7,000 conveniently located fast charging stations along with a host of customer amenities in the country in the next 2-3 years. Ravi added

Backed by small local businesses, fuelling bunks, subway stations, cafes and restaurants, Bounce Infinity Swapping network has a distribution of hundreds of smart stations across major Indian cities. fThe company aims to build an infrastructure to support a million+ scooters in the next 24 months.

The Infinity Swapping Network doesn’t just store energy - it also transmits data. The smart battery and the station carry numerous sensors and IOT that communicate securely with the outside world. This helps the company to scale smartly and distribute the network without creating an imbalance in the grid. For the rider, this smart network ensures a smooth and hassle free experience. Safety solutions powered by smart IOT’s and BMS makes assets safe. The solution supports Bidirectional charging or popularly known as ‘V2G’ (Vehicle to Grid Technology) that goes one step further and allows the charged power to be pushed back to the power grid to balance energy consumption and production variations when necessary, the press statement said.