Co-Founder of Kazam EV Akshay Shekhar envisions consumers to be micro-entrepreneurs where they can start earning money by installing EV charging devices. He believes India needs to upgrade the electricity production and distribution facilities in a phased manner to meet the future EV demand.
The charging infrastructure is also coming to the age for the electric vehicle segment in India. While the market has witnessed the launch of various types of EVs in recent years, the charging platform development is also the process of evolution. Curiously, start-ups have been keeping their minds engaged on it, trying to find solutions that will serve the future e-mobility in a more comprehensive and sustained manner.
Navi Mumbai based Kazam EV was founded last year by Akshay Shekhar and Vaibhav Tyafi with the cause of making renewable mobility accessible to EV users. Backed by a team of environmental enthusiasts, Kazam has developed charges for cars, bikes, and three-wheelers. Speaking to Machine Maker, Co-founder Akshay Shekhar talks about Kazam’s venture of offering EV charging points to a variety of hosts at an affordable cost.
Kazam Initiative: A mixed bag of experience
Coming from a mixed background in the energy sector and consumer goods, Akshay and Vaibhav met each other while working for Pepsico. Vaibhav went on to join Zandu’s solar rooftop start-up and later on built the loT division. “After Pepsico, I had started my venture in the virtual reality segment for interior designers. Last year Vaibhav reached out to me for the EV charging idea,” says Akshay.
“Right now, there is a lot of chaos in the space, so people want an easy guide tool to understand. We created a portal and a Youtube channel to educate people. We realized that there is a deeper problem to be solved. Last year, approximately four lakh two-wheelers and three-wheelers were sold in India. We thought, why not innovate the charging infrastructure for them which will be low cost and people can install at various places!”
So, the two engineers set out to build a team from their Alumni and some by hiring to make the charging station. “It is a 3.3 kW easy plug and play device which will charge all two and three-wheelers and also the four-wheelers.”
A low-cost Electric Vehicle Charging Station
The primary objective at Kazam is to keep the charging stations at a very low cost. Akshay says, “We want to make our consumers micro-entrepreneurs where they can start earning money by installing these devices. We have added the advantage of having an app to locate the charging point. Because this is given as a service, we take certain transaction fees to enable all the essentials and the micro-entrepreneurs also start to earn.” The other thing Kazam is doing is to share its learning experience about EVs to educate people; it has reached out to about nine lakh people in the last seven months.
Kazam provides three different products. Akshay Shekhar says, “The range starts from rupees five thousand for the Capsule. The second is Kazan Lite priced at rupees twelve thousand, and the user gets an LED screen and theft protection. It is always connected to the internet with a SIM card, so one can switch it from anywhere. The third product Duet is specifically for the four-wheelers, a fast-charging AC charger with two outputs. We are planning to launch it on August 15.” The charging points will be placed with the fleet operators or at homes, offices malls and shops. Kazam plans to convert a parking spot to a charging point. The idea is to create a network of charging points where the EV user can access it more readily.
Kazam’s products are entirely designed and developed in-house. The PCB printing and testing are also completed in the company’s facility. “We have two facilities; one is in Bangalore and the other is in Pune.” Akshay explains, “There are three parts to it. The first one is the PCB followed by the pieces getting mounted on it that is the assembly part. The third level is where all of these get connected and mounted inside a casing. We are collaborating with partners in India for PCB printing.” Kazam runs on a ready stock model for the customers to buy the products instantly, there is no lead time.
Like the three product verticals, Kazam is also serving three major categories with its products. “The first one is for B2C where the customer gets connected with us through the web and contact number. They are the individual customers who want to be micro-entrepreneurs. The second is the fleet operators, who have close to two or three hundred EVs.”
Akshay continues that the third customer base is the OEMs, who want to give chargers with the EVs as an accessory. Kazam has sold more than a hundred devices in the last two months to the micro-entrepreneurs and about five hundred odd purchase orders from the fleet operators. As for the OEMs, though the deal is not yet finalized, the demand is around close to thirty thousand units.
Grid Capacity & Alliance, the Great Facilitators
Akshay Shekhar makes a point about the current charging infrastructure in terms of the number of EVs running. “There are two parts to this. One is the grid capacity, which is the amount of electricity generated and if that is enough to support the charging infrastructure. Today we have that. Going forward in five to six years, India needs to upgrade the electricity production and distribution facilities in a phased manner to meet the EV demand. The second being if the infrastructure is not developed, people are not going to buy EVs. That is why the OEMs are pushing to install charging stations.”
The EV is going to be a huge industry in the future so one has to take the path of collaboration and alliance. Akshay says, “We have to collaborate with the OEMs, the energy sector and maybe even with the competitor. That is why we are focusing on the democratized model of doing the business. This is a precondition for the industry to move forward.”
Policies are the Impetus, private players are the Movers
Kazam as a company believes government policies are the impetus, acting as the catalyst to advance the cause of sustainable mobility. “The execution part is always done by the private player. We are the ones who penetrate the market and make the things happen what the policies aim to achieve,” Akshay Shekhar adds.
The issue of standardization of the charging ports is of key importance for the EV charging ecosystem. “If the government authorities come up with a policy for a particular connector to charge, then it will become easier for an infrastructure provider like us and even for the OEMs. Today there is no norm of that kind for two and three-wheelers. For four-wheelers, the consolidation is happening at a global level.”
The challenge is with the protocols. Today India is blindly following the European protocol of Open Charge Point Protocol or OCPP. Akshay Shekhar believes India needs its protocol. “It will make the EV infrastructure development easier and cheaper and it is at an incessant stage. India being a two and three-wheeler specific market we need a different protocol.”
Kazam is on an expansion mode and has recently raised Rs 7 crore in funding led by Inflection Point Ventures. The team is marching ahead with the resources available and set to make a mark in the EV charging infrastructure scene in near future.
