Magenta Inaugurates India’s Largest Public EV Charging Station with 24x7 Operation

HPCL-backed Magenta has been setting up the country’s largest public electric vehicle (EV) charging station in Navi Mumbai, which was inaugurated by Subhash Desai, Minister of Industry and Mining.

During the inauguration, Subhash Desai, Minister of Industry and Mining, said, “Maharashtra has been in the forefront of EV development. Under our draft EV Policy 2021, we aim to bring at least 1,46,000 new battery-operated electric vehicles (BEVs) on state roads by 2025, estimated to comprise about 10% of all new vehicle registrations by that time. We support our very own local start-ups like Magenta to drive the adoption of EV in the state and in the country and soon globally.”

The first-of-its-kind public charging station will be functional 24x7 with 21 AC/ DC chargers for 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and 4-wheelers. The 21 chargers include 4 DC chargers ranging for 15 to 50 KW capacity and 17 AC chargers of 3.5 to 7.5 KW capacity.

These chargers can charge a vehicle in 45 minutes, but for vehicles which require AC slow charging, a parking bay has been developed which allows for overnight charging as well.

The company said that, the AC chargers have been completely developed and manufactured in-house in India.

Besides, these chargers are also powered by a combined 40 KW rooftop solar power, local grid with a backup Diesel Generator.

The company said that these chargers can be operated through the ChargeGrid App with online remote monitoring which includes an automated payment gateway, thereby eliminating the need of having a station marshal to monitor, maintain and operate chargers at the location.

Moreover, these chargers have also been powered by a combined 40 KW rooftop solar power.

The setting up of this public EV charging station in Mumbai will be a revolutionary move to support the government initiative of setting up 400,000 charging stations to meet the requirement for 2 million EVs that could potentially ply on its roads by 2026.

Currently, as per EV industry body, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), there are 1,800 charging stations in India as of March 2021 for approximately 16,200 electric cars, including the fleet segment.

Recently, Magenta had closed it round of Series-A funding of Rs 120 crore from American philanthropist, Dr. Kiran Patel. The company intends to pump in Rs 30 crore to build its charger development and manufacturing unit for India and for exports.

This integrated charging plus development plus manufacturing unit will cater to the development and production of 4,000 AC chargers per month along with the streetlamp chargers.

Along with its second R&D center in the same location, the company is expected to employ 170 people in the coming year.

Commenting on the development, Maxson Lewis, MD & Co-founder of Magenta Group, said, “the year 2021 has presented a great responsibility and opportunity to fast track the development of electrification and EVs by utilizing the strengths made available to us at Magenta. The impact of the pandemic has led to an emergence of a new consumer who is eager to be healthy, breathe clean air and build a better, more resilient world for the next generation. We at Magenta aim to strengthen this vision and grow forward many leaps in the years to come.”