Invests $50 million for Immediate Scale-up
Bengaluru, NFAPost: SUN Mobility, a leading provider of energy infrastructure and services for electric vehicles (EVs) has announced the successful closure of a $50 million funding round by Vitol, one of the world’s largest independent traders of energy and a significant investor in zero-emission and renewable energy assets globally.
The company said Vitol’s strategic investment will enable significant acceleration and expansion of SUN Mobility’s services across India and select global markets.
Vitol has committed over $1 billion of capital to sustainable energy projects. With this new funding and strategic support, SUN Mobility plans to expand its footprint to all major cities both by increasing the number of Swap Points, partnering with various OEMs, collaborating with various fleet operators and distributors to introduce newer business models, and adding more vehicles to its ever-expanding Mobility as a Service (MaaS) offering. \
The company aims to set up 500 SWAP Points in India by the end of 2022 and plans to roll out new products to enhance the swap experience and to further strengthen and expand its leadership in battery swapping across the country.
Vitol Inc Head of Renewables R. Andrew de Pass said with over 160 million two and three-wheeler vehicles in India, SUN Mobility’s model has significant potential.
“Electrifying the largest portion of India’s vehicle fleet through a flexible and cost-effective offering has the potential to reduce urban pollution,” said R. Andrew de Pass.
Speaking on the occasion, SUN Mobility Co-Founder and Vice Chairman Uday Khemka commented that SUN Mobility is working towards an affordable and accessible EV ecosystem with its Battery Swapping technology, and could not have wished for a better partner than Vitol.
“Vitol will bolster our vision of onboarding 1 million EVs on SUN Mobility’s platform by 2025 and help take Made-in-India EV technology solutions to other emerging countries,” said Uday Khemka.
Elaborating further on the announcement, Cofounder and Chairman of SUN Mobility Chetan Maini said the company is excited to be working with Vitol, a significant investor in zero-emissions related technology worldwide with a keen understanding of the electric vehicles segment.
“As part of SUN Mobility’s long-term strategy to build affordable EV technologies in India, we will be deploying the funds into capacity expansion to meet the high customer demand. Our existing technology partnership with Bosch and our new strategic relationships with Vitol will allow us to focus on being a world-class energy solutions provider for electric vehiclss,” said Chetan Maini.
With its strong track record and experience in zero-emission and renewable energy businesses, Chetan Maini said SUN Mobility is certain that Vitol will add a huge value to EV business.
Founded in 2017, SUN Mobility has created the world’s first global interoperable smart mobility solutions for electric vehicles, that separate the battery from the vehicle, bringing down the upfront cost of electric vehicles, making them financially viable for the first time.
The solution involves modular Smart Batteries that are smaller, lighter, and swappable coupled with Quick Interchange Stations that are robust, modular and offer high throughput. The solution is interconnected via Smart Network — a proprietary cloud-connected IoT platform that provides easy access to consumers.
It also addresses the issue of long-charging time and range anxiety, as customers can get fully charged batteries swapped in a matter of minutes.
SUN Mobility is a joint venture between SUN Group and Maini Group, pioneers in areas of electric mobility and clean energy. The company is led by Chetan Maini, previously founder of Reva now Mahindra Electric, and Uday Khemka, Vice Chairman of SUN Group, two of India’s leaders in the new energy economy.
Vitol is a leader in the energy sector with a presence across the spectrum: from oil through to power, renewables, and carbon. It trades 7 million barrels per day of crude oil and products, and charters around 6,650 ship voyages every year. Vitol reported revenue of $140 billion in 2020.
