India’s First Electric Trucks To Be On Roads

The Trucks will be produced by Gurugram-based startup IPLT. The company aims to have 1K trucks on the road by 2020, and 10K by 2021. The company is looking to raise $100 Mn to support production. Gurugram-based fleet service provider Infra-prime Logistics Technologies (IPLT) is planning to launch its first electric commercial vehicle within the next 1.5 months. The company will start off with five electric trucks, but will start rolling out 40-60 trucks per month from January 2020.

The startup will introduce its first variant Rhino 5536, keeping in mind the requirements of the construction industry. The 60-tonne truck will be powered by a 276 kWh battery, that should enable a range of 200 Km with load and 400 Km without load, with a top speed of 90 kmph. The company is already running a pilot on the Delhi-Kotputli road.

IPLT has also planned to set up its own charging stations, which will be designed by the team itself. The company claims that a 30-member team has already created two samples of 160 kW fast chargers that can charge the electric truck in 90 minutes.

The company claims that the electric truck also uses four major computer systems – motor control, transmission, battery management, and battery charging system. It also has a battery cooling system to prevent the rise in battery pack temperatures. The system maintains the temperature of the battery pack at 35 degrees C.

Siddharath Das, executive chairman of IPLT told ET, the company has been planning to set up a manufacturing unit at its Faridabad plant from January 2020. For the initial phase, the IPLT rolling out 1K truck by 2020. The company eventually plans to deploy 10K trucks on the road by 2021.

Since its launch in 2017, the company has raised $8 Mn till the Series A round of funding. It has been developing infrastructure and setting up plants, which have the capacity to produce up to 50 units per month. To reach the 10K trucks by 2021, IPLT is seeking a $100 Mn investment.

Subodh Yadav, CEO of IPLT, said that the majority of the $100 Mn target would be reached through backing from Silicon Valley and European funds. For the rest, the company has plans to talk to banks and NBFCs, which have previously shown interest in electric truck financing. The company plans to close its next round by the end of the year, he added.

Source: http://bit.ly/2kA6MRx