Indian charging provider EVRE will soon be rolling out charging solutions for retailer FreshWorld’s electric fruit and vegetable vending carts in Bengaluru, India.

FreshWorld is a startup that offers a farm-to-home concept, selling fruits and vegetables in a distinctive street vending format using battery-operated carts. The company owns and operates a large EV fleet for the last-mile delivery of its products.

EVRE follows an EAAS (Energy-as-a-Service) model, offering public charging infrastructure on a pay-per-use basis in nine cities across India. Its smart and connected charging stations feature a patented ComputerVision technology. The company has also introduced solar-powered Intellipoles—solar street lights integrated with charging stations compatible with 2- 3- and 4-wheelers. EVRE plans to establish and maintain 50,000 EV charging stations by 2023.

During the first phase of the companies’ partnership, EVRE will support FreshWorld with 100 charging stations for its fleet of 150 EVs in Bengaluru. EVRE will lease the land, operate and maintain the parking and charging infrastructure, and provide insurance and security for the charging hubs. Over the next few months, as FreshWorld expands to new cities, EVRE will provide infrastructure at new locations. The eventual goal is to support a fleet of 1,000 EVs with 500 charging stations across 12 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, by 2022.

“Each extra charging hub will enable us with an opportunity to go farther into each territory using EVs, and offer eco-friendly options for doorstep delivery of our products,” said FreshWorld founder and CEO Rajiv Rao. “The challenge faced by a unique retailer like us was the support infrastructure to reach out to the wider audience.  With this hurdle out of way, we are looking forward to achieving our mission for pan-Indian operations while minimizing our carbon footprint.”

Source: EVRE