Whrring #6 - Joining the dots Evolute Surat & ChargeZone

Figuring out the how of EvoluteSurat

What?

ICYMI, I published the state of EV Charging Infrastructure report last month.

I was surprised at the sudden appearance of this particular charge point operator - Evolute Surat.

I decided to dig a bit deeper into this and figure out what happened.

Why does it matter?

Fig 1 : Courtesy Surat Municipal Corporation website

Evolute Surat, established by Surat Municipal Commission, installed around 200 CCS2 charging points all over Surat city. They use similar hardware as of ChargeZone’s. The UX of the app is also very similar to ChargeZone’s.

Fig 2 : Similar User Interfaces

Evolute Surat is now also the third biggest charge point operator for CCS2 charging points in West Zone.

Fig 3 : Evolute Surat’s dominance in CCS2 West

How?

According to a September 2022 CapTable article written by Supriya Roy, ChargeZone operated via the CoCo model - ChargeZone owned and ChargeZone operated. It is embracing the dealership model too, while continuing to run the CoCo model.

Dealership model allows ChargeZone to transfer the ownership of the hardware to the dealer and ChargeZone continuing to maintain the same. DoCo - Dealership owned, ChargeZone operated.

“We got a few cheques amounting to about Rs 10 crore, where people have invested in the dealership model,” Hariyani told investors earlier this year, underscoring small business owners’ response to the soft launch of the dealership initiative. The amount has increased to Rs 35 crore, with automotive OEMs and municipal corporations getting involved, Hariyani told The CapTable.

Read more at: https://the-captable.com/2022/09/mobility-mood-electric-ev-charging-startups/

Alright. So INR 25 Cr (~US$3M) can majorly be attributed to OEMs and municipal corporations. For simplicity sake, let’s assume that all the capital is by Surat Municipal Corporation.

Is 25 Cr enough to setup a network as big as Evolute’s?

Ravin Mirchandani, Chairman of Ador Digatron was interviewed on a TeslaClub India podcast from April 2023. From that conversation, I learnt that a company with 100s of chargers has invested around INR 25 Cr (US$3M).

Listen here :

Evolute Surat has 212 CCS2 charging points, which brings us to ~100 chargers with 2 dispensing units each. Evolute Surat charger’s most common configuration is 2 CCS2 fast charging points (60kW) and 1 ACType2 (7.2kW) slow charging point, and 2 such units at each location.

ChargeZone’s most fast chargers are from Quench, which is a brand by Ador Digatron.

Fig 4 : Do the math

There is of course the possibility that more OEMs and municipal corporations are exploring the DoCO model by ChargeZone, with each having their unique business model. And ChargeZone can generate revenue through multiple modes - by either taking a cut from the charging revenue earned by the corporation, or by charging the corporation a fee to operate the charging points. ChargeZone can also take a bigger chunk of revenue if they’ve co invested with Surat Municipal Corporation.

I don’t have all the answers, but I am sure looking for many.

We are going to see more of the charge point operators adopt this model, as they look to increase their footprint of charging networks with lower costs.

If you are interested in getting a deeper understanding of the charging infrastructure in India, consider buying the paid report. The paid report will talk about charging infrastructure in various states and strengths and weaknesses of Indian charge point operators. It is due to be released later this month.

You also might be interested in another ChargeZone story where I dig deep into how the cars charge on ChargeZone’s network.

This piece can be re-published (CC BY-NC-SA) with a line mentioning ‘This was originally published on ExpWithEVs Substack’ and a link back to this page. In case of re-publishing, please alert priyansevs@gmail.com

Story by : Priyans Murarka

Edited by : Siddharth Agarwal