Honda’s new subsidiary for battery sharing service, Honda Power Pack Energy India, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited are collaborating to set up EV battery swapping stations across India. The Japanese company says this marks the global debut of its battery sharing service.
This comes three months after Honda announced it was entering the battery swapping business in the country. Honda is not the only manufacturer to have tied up with a petroleum major to build EV charging infrastructure. Recently,Hero MotoCorp and BPCL have partnered to develop an EV charging network as well.
Honda and HPCL say they plan to start Battery as a Service (BaaS) business on a commercial basis in Bengaluru from the first half of 2022. Honda plans to set up a wide network of battery swap stations at strategic HPCL retail outlets. It’ll enable customers to quickly exchange a depleted battery pack, called the Honda Mobile Power Pack e , with a fully charged one in a matter of minutes.
Initially, the focus will be on the three-wheeler segment and would eventually expand to two-wheelers as well. For this purpose, Honda has been developing its ties with multiple OEMs in various applications.