The demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in India has increased significantly in the last few years. But charging infrastructure remains a major challenge.
This is not just India's problem. Globally, the lack of a strong EV charging infrastructure and the time required to charge prevents consumers from switching from other vehicles to EVs.
In a recent global survey, Deloitte recognizes charging time, range anxiety, cost, and battery safety as the primary concerns of consumers associated with battery electric vehicles.
In India, 43% of the 864 respondents expressed concern about the time required to charge EVs, while 42% were concerned about the lack of public EV charging infrastructure.
This is very much needed in India. Exponent energy is one example that has already made headway into the fast charging domain. With the 15-minute fast charging technology, the company is providing commercial EVs at its dedicated charging stations. Similarly, Bengaluru-based EMO Energy has also developed EV battery packs that can be charged in 30 minutes.
Clean ElectricClean Electric
Clean Electric was founded in 2020 by former IITBHU students Akash Gupta, Abhinav Roy and Ankit Joshi to address the safety, cost and convenience issues associated with EV batteries.
"We believe that cost and convenience issues need to be addressed for EVs to become mainstream and succeed in this space. At present, it takes five minutes to refuel the other vehicle, while EVs take 60-100 minutes to charge. Our goal was to find a way to charge these batteries in 10-15 minutes. That's how it all started in 2020, "said Gupta, the cofounder and CEO.
The cofounders then started developing a new architecture called direct contact liquid cooling, which is a type of immersion liquid cooling technology. According to Gupta, no one has been able to scale this technology globally yet. The biggest challenge in EV development is related to battery management.
Keeping the batteries cool is very important to maintain high performance throughout the life of the vehicle, as overheating can cause the batteries to die quickly. Additionally, fire-related incidents are common in EVs due to poor cell quality or faulty battery management systems (BMS) due to the inherently sensitive nature of lithium-ion batteries.
Globally, various cooling systems such as liquid cooling, air cooling and phase change material cooling are used to keep EV batteries at their optimum temperature. Immersion cooling is a system in which battery cells are directly immersed in an electrical fluid. However, it has many disadvantages and this technology is difficult to scale.
Charging the batteries quickly (in 10 to 15 minutes) requires a superior cooling architecture, which Clean Electric was able to achieve by integrating with its proprietary Intelligent Battery Management System. Gupta said the startup has been granted four patents in India and the US.
In 2022, Clean Electric raised approximately $2.2 million in a seed funding round led by Kalaari Capital. Its cap table includes institutional investors such as IIM Ahmedabad, Climate Angels and LetsVenture.
The Value of Clean Electricity
Currently, the startup competes with Exponent Energy, but unlike Exponent, whose entire tech stack is batteries that can be charged for about 15 minutes, Clean Electric's batteries are designed to be compatible with universal charging points.
The cofounder added that the startup aims to create a global solution similar to the one standardized by smartphones chargers.
The EV startup has already manufactured batteries for two, three and four-wheelers. Also, the cooling system of electric two-wheelers and electric rickshaws is different from the refrigerated cooling system in electric cars and L5 vehicles.
The clean electric batteries power the EVs manufactured by Bounce Infinity in around 38 cities. Apart from this, the company is also in talks with multiple other EV OEMs and is conducting a pilot with international carmakers.
The electric revolution
Clean Electric, which started selling batteries last year, is still operating on a small scale. Currently, its batteries are a bit more expensive than others on the market, but the cofounder believes it can be scaled up and fixed.
Currently, the startup reports a monthly revenue of around Rs 1 crore. The target is to increase it to Rs 10 crore per month by the middle of next year.
The startup is in advanced discussions with existing and new investors to raise funds in the new round.
In a market that is expected to reach approximately $114 billion in size by 2029, Clean Electric, with its current valuation, is looking for a significant market opportunity if it can scale its technology. The growth trajectory of the startup has been mapped from this point onwards with the support of some marquee investors and with an aim to provide fast charging solutions to all vehicle segments.
