Montra Electric and Exponent Energy Announce Partnership to Launch 15-Minute Rapid Charging Electric 3-Wheelers

• Montra Electric, the EV brand from Murugappa Group will integrate Exponent’s proprietary battery pack - e^pack into its line of Electric 3Ws. This will allow the new variant of the vehicles to rapid-charge in 15 minutes on Exponent’s e^pump charging network
• Montra electric will launch the exponent powered electric 3 wheeler in early 2024

Montra Electric, the EV brand of Murugappa Group, and Exponent Energy, an energy-tech startup, has announced a partnership to develop rapid charging electric vehicles in the 3-wheeler segment.

Montra Electric will launch a rapid charging 3W variant that will be equipped with Exponent’s 8.8 kWh e^pack and will achieve a 0 to 100% charge in 15 minutes at Exponent’s e^pump charging network, while also having the ability to be slow charged at home. Exponent's e^pack comes with a 3000-cycle life warranty even with 100% rapid charging. This technology was independently validated by TUV India (TUV Nord Group, Germany) which reported only 13% degradation after 3000 cycles of rapid charging.

Montra Electric, EV Brand from 123 years legacy Murugappa Group has launched its Super Auto in Three Wheeler Passenger Category with an aspirational and industry-defining proposition. The brand is expected to launch its Three Wheeler Cargo Proposition by early 2024 targeting both individual as well as institutional customer requirements.

Exponent has made 15-minute rapid charging an on-road reality using its proprietary energy stack (battery pack - e^pack, charging station - e^pump, and connector - e^plug). They solve two key challenges with 15-minute rapid charging: Lithium plating & extreme heat. The company’s proprietary BMS & charging algorithms ensure minimal Lithium plating resulting in the e^pack’s long life. To tackle extreme heat, the company has innovated with the world’s first “water-based” offboard thermal management system using an advanced HVAC system in the e^pump.

Mr. Kalyan Kumar Paul, Managing Director, TI Clean Mobility Pvt Ltd expressed confidence in the partnership with Exponent Energy and conveyed his best wishes mentioning, “This will be a key enabler in the Electric Adoption journey”.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Sushant Jena, Head, Montra Electric 3W Division said, “We are excited to partner with Exponent Energy to offer 15-minute Rapid charging option to our valued customers. It’s a perfect fit in our product proposition, addressing the range anxiety of our customers who are looking to do more trips everyday”.

The partnership between Montra Electric and Exponent Energy is poised to redefine the electric vehicle industry by leveraging the strengths and expertise of both entities. Montra Electric already has a presence of about 40 Showrooms spread across the South Indian market and are expanding rapidly into the remaining parts of the country by the end of this Financial Year. The company is also coming up with more variants of products suiting the wide spectrum of customer requirements.

Elaborating on the partnership, Arun Vinayak, Co-founder & CEO, Exponent Energy said, “It’s a privilege to be partnering with Montra Electric to rapidly electrify last-mile mobility. With their strength in vehicle design, manufacturing, distribution, and financing with our focus on energy tech and rapid charging network, we will together launch zero compromise EVs. 15 minute rapid charging kills charging anxiety and is crucial to delivering uptime and flexibility in operations needed for last-mile mobility. Like refueling a diesel vehicle, customers will enjoy the same level of freedom as ICE vehicles, while reaping all the advantages of going electric.”

Exponent has already launched commercial operations in Bengaluru with the support of 30+ e^pumps and a few hundred vehicles delivered to customers in the last quarter, together powering half a million kms monthly. By the end of 2023, Exponent Energy will expand its operations in five more cities - Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Ahmedabad. The company plans to deploy 1,000 e^pumps and power 25,000 EVs with its technology by 2025.

Fyn Mobility Rolls Out World ’s 1st 15-Minutes Full Charge EV Fleet-powered by Exponent Energy; Will Deploy 1500 Vehicles

Fyn Mobility, India's first vertically Integrated EV ecosystem platform today partnered with Exponent Energy, an energy startup simplifying energy for EVs. The new fleet of Altigreen’s neEV Tez along with exponent’s e^pump network will make Fyn - the world’s first logistics player to operate a fleet of 15-minute full charge EVs.

Fyn is re-imagining the Indian logistics and transportation experience with its IOT enabled smart EV fleets along with their own EV ecosystem platform that helps generate insights from these fleets and optimise overall operations to be greener and more efficient. Today, Fyn is helping businesses & delivery agglomerates in the E-commerce, Quick-commerce, Grocery, Pharma & Courier sectors to solve their last mile and micro mobility challenges in Bengaluru, Chennai & Hyderabad.

With this partnership, Fyn plans to roll out these EVs to be cross-utilised making the overall cost of operations to businesses much more affordable, and open up new opportunities within the industry.

Commenting on this partnership, Visakh Sasikumar, Founder and CEO, Fyn Mobility shared, “This energy packed partnership will redefine the last-mile logistics industry. With Fyn’s unique EV ecosystem platform and Exponent’s 15-minute full charge technology, we are retuning the EV-as-a-service industry to look at cross utilisation of EVs as a metric of scale rather than just the number of EVs deployed. This partnership enables us to use a single commercial EV for 2 shifts covering close to 18 hrs of service which has now steadily become a reality. We believe cross utilisation is the more sustainable and eco-friendly approach in the EV logistics industry for the long run.”

The rise in the e-commerce and logistics sector has propelled the demand for dependable last-mile delivery methods, yet most gig workers continue to struggle with high fuel costs and long charging time. With a 15-minute full charge, Fyn will be able to minimise idle time and enable multiple trips with a single Altigreen neEV Tez. To support the fleet, Exponent has already installed 20 e^pumps across Bengaluru and plans to add 80 more in the next 6 months.

Speaking on the partnership, Arun Vinayak, Co-founder, & CEO, Exponent Energy said, “This partnership is about how our rapid charging tech & e^pump network perfectly complement FYNs platform to drive cross-utilization & redefine last-mile logistics. Last month, in partnership with Altigreen, we launched the neEV Tez - the world’s fastest charging 3W. We now have our e^pump network live across Bangalore, and are opening up other vehicle segments, with a core focus on logistics."

For fleets - utilisation is key. While the vehicle and network is ready to provide, FYN’s technology stack is key to extracting it. Their treasure trove of insights help optimise operations & push the limits on cross-utilisation.

Our seamless charging experience will power Fyn’s fleet and deliver unparalleled value to end users. We’re excited by the deep bet both organisations have taken and look forward to scaling this unique solution across multiple cities & vehicle formats, starting with the neEV Tez.”

About Fyn:

Fyn Mobility, India's first vertically integrated EV-as-a-Service platform for last-mile logistics and commute applications, offers end-to-end micro-mobility through sustainable EV solutions along with data-driven insights, to augment productivity in last-mile logistics and transportation space.

Fyn Mobility (formerly Pi Beam Electric) is working to revolutionise the Indian logistics industry with the help of smart fleets and their own EV-as-a-service ecosystem platform. This will bring all stakeholders of the EV ecosystem together to facilitate a better understanding and solve for demand and supply in the last-mile and mid-mile logistics sector. The Fyn EV ecosystem platform links customers, financiers and operations teams on a single interface to help discern and accommodate demand.

About Exponent Energy:

Led by Arun Vinayak & Sanjay Byalal, exponent energy aims to simplify energy for EVs. The company has built a battery pack & charging station called the e^pack & e^pump that together unlock a 15-minute full charge for EVs with any number of wheels & provide a 3000 cycle life warranty – all while using regular Li-ion cells to make rapid charging affordable and scalable.

Exponent Energy Founded by Ather Energy's Founding Partner Raises $5 Mn Funding; Set to Offer 15-min Rapid Charge in Market by Early 2022

(L to R)  Arun Vinayak & Sanjay Byalal Co- founders Exponent Energy

YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital & AdvantEdge VC doubled down on their earlier investment within 8 months.

Pre-Series A round witnessed participation from Motherson Group.

Company plans to collaborate with OEMs in the cargo vehicle space & deploy a citywide charging network with select partners in every city they enter.

Exponent Energy, a technology startup dedicated to simplifying energy for EVs, announced that it has secured $5Mn in a Pre-Series A round of funding. Existing investor, YourNest VC led the fresh round of funding; 3one4 Capital & AdvantEdge VC doubled down on their earlier investment as the new round witnessed the participation of Motherson Group, a leading global supplier of automotive components.

Commenting on the fundraise, Co-founder & CEO, Arun Vinayak said, “We’re excited to deepen our partnership with our existing investors who’ve watched us build from scratch. Motherson coming on board adds immense value to scale with respect to OEM relationships & manufacturing partnerships. Given the demand witnessed for our rapid charging technology in the logistics space, we prioritized closing the Pre-Series A to enter the market by early 2022.”

Exponent Energy is unlocking the scale for EVs by simplifying the otherwise complicated, expensive and slow ‘EV energytrain’ - the flow of energy between the charger and battery, in India. In line with this, the company recently unveiled their battery pack & charging station called the E-pack & E-pump that together unlocks a 15-minute rapid charge and gives a 3000 cycle life warranty (a new industry standard) — all done on a range of affordable Li-ion cells. This is made possible by their proprietary BMS and charging algorithms, layered on top of their unique E-pack design.

The company will use the funds raised to begin commercial operations & scale it across multiple cities starting with Bengaluru from early 2022; hire across product & engineering teams to ensure their products enter production, build out a robust deployment team for smooth operations & double down on its software products to create a seamless customer experience.

Highlighting Exponent’s vision, Arun Vinayak said, “For nearly a decade, stakeholders have come together to solve the drivetrains of the EV ecosystem, getting the 0-1 shift done and dusted for EV adoption. However, to unlock scale, the 1-100 journey needs energy partnerships crafted in a way that creates a win-win-win scenario for the consumer, the vehicle manufacturer, and the charging station partner. At Exponent, we are creating that deeper impact for everyone to scale exponentially.”

Today, EVs take anywhere between 4 to 8 hours to charge with batteries that last ~1000 cycles, creating a broken energy ecosystem. Long charge times lead to poor charging station utilization, making them unprofitable as a business, and leading to a scarce network presence. Slow charging leads to larger unoptimised batteries to combat range anxiety, making the vehicle bulky and expensive. A short battery life drives battery pack financing skyhigh further adding pressure to the end consumer & hampering EV adoption.

Exponent aims to simplify all of this by making energy for EVs seamless, instantaneous and affordable.

Sunil Goyal, Managing Director, YourNest VC, said "Wide-scale adoption of EVs will be limited due to the prolonged charging hours and restricted charging infrastructure. Exponent Energy has developed the much-needed proprietary rapid charging battery and infrastructure technology to provide a seamless and rapid charging experience of ‘recharge like you refuel’. With this round of investment, the company plans to enter and become a dominant player in the market to make our world sustainable."

Pranav Pai, Founding Partner, 3one4 Capital adds “The Exponent team has combined their deep insights from the EV and energy distribution systems in India with core IP innovation to solve a long-standing challenge through a disruptive yet elemental set of modalities. With the radical reforms that are being rolled out in the country, this technology will be a natural enabler of India's shift into sustainable energy and mobility infrastructure. We are tremendously excited by the possibilities of the Exponent Energy stack, and we are looking forward to working with them to scale this vital value proposition.”

“As EV adoption takes off across the world, we see the growing importance of rapid charging to see large-scale adoption across larger form factors like commercial vehicles and buses,” said Kunal Khattar, Founder of AdvantEdge. “We are convinced Exponent has the team to build a global company out of India by solving for this holy grail.”

“Motherson has been known as a pioneer in the auto component industry having scaled globally by partnering with leading OEM’s,” said Laksh Vaaman Sehgal, Vice Chairman, Motherson Group. “As the auto industry adopts EVs, we want to remain a key player and partnering with startups like Exponent gives us a head start to be able to build offerings that help us to continue to expand and achieve our broader vision."

Led by Ather Energy’s ex-CPO Arun Vinayak & Sanjay Byalal, his colleague at Ather Energy and a former HUL supply chain & operations manager, Exponent Energy aims to simplify energy for EVs. The company has built a battery pack & charging station called the E-pack & E-pump that together unlock a 0 to 100% rapid charge within 15 minutes for EVs with any number of wheels & provide a 3000 cycle life warranty – all while using affordable Li-ion cells to make rapid charging truly scalable.

To know more, visit the official Exponent Energy website: www.exponent.energy

Twitter: @ExponentEnergy

LinkedIn: Exponent Energy