Ashok Leyland joins hands with Reva founder for electric vehicles

Chennai-based Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland today announced the formation of a strategic alliance with SUN Mobility, promoted by Chetan Maini, Founder of Reva and Uday Khemka, Vice Chairman of SUN Group.

This global partnership between Ashok Leyland and SUN Mobility is aimed at developing electric mobility solutions.

Ashok Leyland has developed electric buses, hybrid buses, in both CNG as well as diesel, including those that do not require a plug-in. SUN Mobility aims to be the leading provider of universal energy infrastructure and services to accelerate mass electric vehicle usage.

SUN Mobility plans to deploy a unique open-architecture ecosystem built around their proprietary smart batteries and a network of quick interchange battery stations. These stations, predominantly powered by renewable energy, will refuel electric vehicles at cost lower than and speed faster than conventional diesel/petrol pumps.

Vinod K. Dasari, CEO & Managing Director of Ashok Leyland said, “Today’s partnership with Sun Mobility is yet another step towards bringing world class solutions to India, developed in India, and by Indians.  We are proud of this partnership and hope to bring several new innovative products to the market at the earliest.”

Chetan Maini, Vice Chairman of SUN Mobility, said, “With this  partnership, SUN Mobility hopes to create a strategic alliance in the area of mass electric mobility by deploying market-leading integrated ecosystem comprising Ashok Leyland’s state-of-the art electric vehicles and our proprietary smart batteries along with a network of quick interchange battery stations. This partnership will help the nation move masses via an efficient, pollution-free and cost-competitive solution for electric mobility.”

SUN Mobility is a 50:50 joint venture between Virya Mobility 5.0 and SUN New Energy Systems, players in electric mobility and clean energy.

SUN Mobility aims to be the leading provider of universal energy infrastructure and services to accelerate mass electric vehicle usage.

SUN Mobility will partner with multiple OEMs to integrate SUN Mobility’s proprietary smart battery solution into a range of innovative electric vehicles – cars, buses, rickshaws, scooters etc. The smart batteries will be modular, easily swappable, highly secure, IOT enabled and can be easily refuelled on a pay-as-you go basis.