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Interaction - Sarthak Shukla, Founder and CEO, eVolt India

Interaction - Sarthak Shukla, Founder and CEO, eVolt India on the recharging station infrastructure of his work and smart tech in it

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Archana Verma
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Sarthak
eVolt India has an E-vehicle recharging station infrastructure business, which uses Smart Tech in its work. Sarthak Shukla, Founder and CEO, eVolt India discusses with us his work.
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How does the recharging set up work?

Sarthak - Getting electric vehicle chargers installed is quite simple through eVolt. Simply fill up our contact form on e-volt.in or drop in an e-mail to us, after which our engineers do a thorough site survey and advise you on the type of charger to be installed based on your requirements and your electric vehicle/fleet of vehicles. This is followed by installation of the chargers through our team of experienced site engineers, which approximately takes around a day.

Once the chargers are installed, charging an electric vehicle is a smooth and straightforward process. Charging in residential units or other closed private spaces usually requires no authentication and such chargers can be charged via the plug & charge mode wherein the charger is simply plugged into the vehicle, and after a few internal checks the vehicle begins charging. Public chargers on the other hand require app-based or RFID based authentication.

What Smart tech do you use?

Sarthak - Our EV chargers come equipped with several smart features such as smart scheduling, wherein you can schedule a time during which your vehicle can be charged, for example, at home overnight. Features such as Current Adjustment, Dynamic Load Management, that can help reduce energy costs, are also a part of these chargers. Connectivity features such as WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet are also included for easy communication between multiple chargers when installed at the same property and also for over-the-air update or diagnostics to minimize onsite intervention.

These chargers use the Type-2 standard for AC Charging while CCS2 or CHAdeMO for DC Charging. What makes eVolt chargers unique is that we bring these future-proof features to our chargers today, so users don't find themselves scrambling for better tech every year.

How is this solution useful for universities and hospitals?

Sarthak - Installing EV Chargers at highly-frequented spaces such as universities and hospitals is an inevitable need that, if fulfilled early on, will drastically improve quality of life in any city. Usually the dwell time or downtime, that is the time where your vehicle stays standstill, is high in such places. Staff or students can spend 5-7 hours on average at hospitals or universities which gives ample time to provide a significant level of charge to the electric vehicle. Having such facilities also helps eradicate the fear of range anxiety in the consumers’ minds, which is one of the biggest obstructions when it comes to adoption of EVs in India. Just as parking spots are a necessity for any property today, it is important for malls, universities, hotels and hospitals to provide charging as a service to their customers or employees to boost EV adoption. What I can say with confidence is that EVs will be mass-market vehicles in another decade. The sooner you jump onto the EV Charger bandwagon, the sooner you can unlock doors for a growing community for EV owners.

What has been the response from the E-vehicle users so far?

Sarthak -  The response so far has been quite positive and exciting. Since this is an emerging industry, there are a lot of questions that we come across at every new installation. Several questions are regarding government schemes and other incentives for owning EVs or EV chargers, or the need to get a separate electricity meter from the DISCOM for EV charging. To keep it informative for all, we have also included an FAQ section on our website that we keep on updating as and when we come across new interesting questions from our clients.

What challenges do you face in this work?

Sarthak - A major challenge we have faced is the adoption rate of EVs in India, which is still low, as there is a significant knowledge barrier within both the consumer and stakeholder communities. The real estate sector plays a key role, and for them to be more accepting towards installation of chargers would be crucial for how quickly and widely the charging infrastructure develops in the country. The government should try to incentivise real estate developers who have sizable parking lots so that they are able to install charging stations to boost EV penetration and make their properties EV-ready ahead of competition.

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