ChargeZone

Sector: EV Charging Infrastructure  |  HQ: Vadodara, Gujarat, India  |  Founded: 2018  |  Employees: unknown

Listed as: Privately held  | 

Company overview

ChargeZone is a Vadodara based electric vehicle charging infrastructure company that operates one of India's larger DC fast charging networks for four wheeler electric vehicles, commercial fleets and electric buses. Founded in 2018 by Kartikey Hariyani, the company designs, manufactures, deploys and operates fast chargers including high power DC chargers at highway corridors, fuel station forecourts, electric bus depots and commercial fleet hubs. ChargeZone has a particularly strong position in inter city corridor charging in Western and Northern India and in electric bus depot charging for state transport corporations. The company operates its own brand of DC fast chargers ranging from 50 kilowatt to 480 kilowatt high power units, designed in India and integrated with the ChargeZone software platform for session management, payments, fleet operator dashboards and remote monitoring. Customers include public charging network users, state road transport corporations operating electric buses, commercial fleet operators, and oil marketing companies under partnership agreements. ChargeZone has raised funding from Apollo Tyres, Renew Energy, BlueOrchard and other investors.

Competitive position

ChargeZone competes in India's fast charging segment with Tata Power EZ Charge, Statiq, Ather Grid, Bolt.Earth at the low power end, and the public charging networks rolled out by oil marketing companies BPCL, HPCL and IOCL. Among independent charge point operators it is one of the larger DC fast charging focused networks. Its advantages include in house charger manufacturing capability, strong relationships with state road transport corporations for electric bus charging, a national network with particular depth in Gujarat and Maharashtra, and a focused commercial vehicle and four wheeler positioning. Its disadvantages include capital intensity of high power chargers and competition from oil marketing companies leveraging captive fuel retail real estate.

Key risks

Capital intensity and long payback on high power chargers Oil marketing company competition at fuel retail forecourts Customer concentration in state government bus contracts

Outlook

ChargeZone was founded in 2018 in Vadodara by Kartikey Hariyani with the thesis that Indian EV adoption would require a national network of DC fast chargers at highway corridors and commercial fleet hubs to overcome range anxiety and support intercity travel and commercial operations. The early years were spent building proprietary DC fast charger hardware in India, integrating with battery management systems of multiple Indian and global EV manufacturers, and establishing the first set of public charging stations. The business is built across three pillars. Charger manufacturing in Gujarat produces DC fast chargers from 50 kilowatt to 480 kilowatt high power output, including units designed for charging electric buses and commercial vehicles. Network deployment installs and operates fast chargers at highway corridors, fuel retail forecourts under partnership with oil marketing companies, commercial fleet hubs, electric bus depots, hotel and resort destinations, and shopping malls. The software platform handles session management, dynamic pricing, payments through multiple channels, fleet operator dashboards for commercial customers, and remote monitoring of the entire charger fleet. The electric bus segment has been a particular focus area. State road transport corporations including those of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana and Delhi have procured electric buses under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India scheme and the Pradhan Mantri E Bus Sewa programme, and require depot charging infrastructure with high power chargers to charge buses overnight. ChargeZone has secured contracts to build and operate depot charging infrastructure for several of these contracts. The four wheeler intercity charging network covers expressways and highways including the Mumbai Pune Expressway, Mumbai Ahmedabad corridor, Delhi Mumbai Expressway sections, Bangalore Mysuru Expressway and Hyderabad Vijayawada corridor among others. Stations typically include multiple high power chargers serving different OEM platforms. Financing has come from a series of rounds including a 54 million dollar Series B in 2023 led by Apollo Tyres, Renew Energy and BlueOrchard, with earlier rounds from individual angel investors and family offices. The capital has been directed at scaling the network, expanding manufacturing capacity for chargers and deepening software platform capabilities. The Indian fast charging market is in a formative phase. Four wheeler EV adoption has been led by Tata Motors with the Nexon EV and Tigor EV, joined by MG Motor, Mahindra, Hyundai, BYD and a wave of new entrants. Commercial vehicle electrification is advancing in last mile e commerce delivery, ride hailing and intra city goods transport. Electric bus deployment under government tenders has scaled to thousands of buses across major cities. Each of these segments requires DC fast charging infrastructure, creating sustained demand. Strategy from 2025 to 2030 is built on three themes. First, expanding the highway corridor network to cover all major expressways and national highways, providing intercity charging coverage. Second, scaling depot charging for electric buses and commercial fleets, where contract revenue is more predictable than retail session economics. Third, growing the charger manufacturing business under the Production Linked Incentive scheme for advanced chemistry cells and related EV ecosystem incentives, with both Indian and export markets. The regulatory environment for public charging has been progressively clarified. The Ministry of Power has declared public charging as delicensed, removing the need for a power distribution licence. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency and Central Electricity Authority have issued guidelines. State EV policies offer capital subsidies, concessional tariffs and faster permitting. Standards for chargers and connectors are governed by the Bureau of Indian Standards under the AIS series. The recent PM E Drive scheme has further allocated funds for charging infrastructure. Risks include capital intensity and long payback periods for high power chargers, electricity tariff volatility and the absence of consistent concessional tariffs across states, intense competition from oil marketing companies and OEM affiliated networks, technology obsolescence as charging standards and battery chemistries evolve, and the dependence on EV adoption trajectories that have at times disappointed against optimistic forecasts. Customer concentration in state government bus contracts also creates payment timing and political risk. Management is led by Kartikey Hariyani as founder and chief executive officer, with a senior team across hardware engineering, software, operations, sales and supply chain. Governance reflects the standards expected of venture backed companies with an institutional board. ESG is intrinsic to the business model, enabling the transition from internal combustion to electric mobility. The company tracks tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions avoided through charging sessions on the network and contributes to the broader policy goals of urban air quality improvement and oil import substitution.

KAMRIT point of view

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