Power Global announces a partnership with Rap Eco Motors to supply its eZee swappable lithium-ion battery technology to the auto-rickshaw manufacturer for its mass-market electric three-wheeler product line, RANIE. This includes a passenger auto-rickshaw, delivery van, and cargo vehicle. Following an initial product launch in April 2022, the companies will partner to manufacture 50,000 electric auto-rickshaws over the next five years.
The partnership with Power Global is Rap Eco Motors’ first step towards developing a comprehensive 360 solution for the OEM’s electric auto-rickshaws, RANIE, built on Power Global’s 48-volt swappable eZee battery module. Compared to existing ICE auto-rickshaws on the road today, each RANIE vehicle is expected to cut CO2e emissions by 3.7 metric tons annually and eliminate dangerous NOx and PM tailpipe emissions that contribute to air pollution.
“In the world’s largest three-wheeler market, we feel a collective responsibility to commercialize a sustainable and clean solution,” said Parmod Chabria, the Co-founder at Rap Eco Motors. “Our complementary footprints across Northern India and Southern India prime us for critical national expansion, which will help spur the country’s adoption of more economical, less pollutive transportation for thousands of drivers.”
Power Global’s domestic battery production plant in Greater Noida is to be the country’s largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, with a manufacturing capacity of 400,000 modules annually. Power Global aims to deploy 10,000 batteries and light mobility electric retrofit kits supported by their battery swapping network by the end of 2022.
“For India to successfully capture a bigger market share of the light e-mobility sector, we need to onshore all components of electric auto-rickshaw manufacturing in-country. Rap Eco Motors has already dominated the regional market through its ambitious business strategy and shares our mutual vision for ‘made in India’ electrification solutions,” said Pankaj Dubey, CEO of Power Global’s India subsidiary.
“We feel privileged to help chart their course toward national growth, and we believe our companies’ close collaboration will deliver a cleaner, more cost-effective electrified solution for auto-rickshaw drivers everywhere and strengthen our local economies. As we like to say, ‘Made in India, for India.’”
