Magenta Power to set up India's first electric vehicles' charging corridor at Lonavala on Mumbai-Pune Expressway

Mumbai: Renewable energy solutions services provider Magenta Power on Monday said it will set up the country’s first electric vehicles (EVs) charging corridor at Lonavala on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, a move that is expected to give a fillip to the government’s e-mobility plans. The corridor ‘ChargeIn’ will be an open platform for all EV charging stations for 2/3/4 wheelers as well as for bus fleets, a release said. It will be a fully-integrated network of charging points including AC and DC chargers and all the ChargeIn points will be connected via network for central monitoring and control, the company said. [caption id=“attachment_4957541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The first electric vehicles’ corridor is expected to be set up on Mumbai-Pune expressway. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Set up about a year ago, the Navi Mumbai-based Magenta Power, is primarily into installing solar rooftop power. In the next phase, the network will be extended to Bangalore and Mysore allowing EV users to travel across this stretch in their vehicles without having to worry about their next charging station, the release said. “While this network of charging stations will open up the electric highways in India, it will also provide a unique employment opportunity for charging station owners who can man and support the stations,” Magenta Power managing director Maxson Lewis said in the release. Magenta understands the challenges with setting up and operating EV charging stations in India given the local context and issues and is prepared with technological and ground level solutions, he added. The company had in July installed India’s first solar-based EV charging station in Navi Mumbai. Initially some of the charging station will have a fully-automated payment system so that users can charge the vehicles using an online OTP based payment system via the ChargeIn app. This payment system will be deployed to all the charging stations in a phased manner, the release stated. Along with setting up the network, Magenta is also in talks with potential investors to support its growth plans for this asset-intensive business, the company said.