With a presence in more than 15 cities, Lithium claims to be India’s largest operator of electric cars.
EverSource Capital, the manager of India’s largest climate impact fund, has announced the acquisition of a controlling share in electric vehicle start-up Lithium Urban Technologies Pvt Ltd. Lithium claims to be India’s largest operator of electric vehicles, having served prominent clients since 2015 and having a presence in over 15 cities. According to the firms, this is the largest agreement in the EV passenger transportation market. According to sources close to the situation, the transaction might be worth more than $50 million.
When contacted both firms, they both formally denied to comment on the deal valuation.
This agreement comes at a time when the government has established a Rs 18,100 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) plan to incentivize manufacturing capabilities for EV sector players, hence pushing the push toward increased EV adoption.
Lithium, founded in 2014, has delivered more than 180 million electric miles over the previous seven years, with an order book of over 2,000 vehicles and a network of 600+ charging stations driven by a unique technology stack.
In addition, the firm has lately expanded its offers to corporate clients by delivering large-form factor buses and freight management systems employing a 100% electric fleet. Lithium’s tech stack includes fleet management, connected cars with charging infrastructure, and a demand management platform, allowing its fleet of electric vehicles to achieve 2x productivity, decrease carbon footprint by up to 100%, and cut transportation expenses by up to 40%.
“We are delighted to welcome Lithium into the EverSource ecosystem as it strengthens our mission of building climate-positive businesses. With Lithium’s unique, differentiated and competitive e-mobility offering, we aim to build it into a rapidly scalable, world-class business generating superior financial returns,” Dhanpal Jhaveri, CEO, EverSource Capital, said.
“We also foresee a huge synergistic benefit with our other platform, ‘GreenCell Mobility’, regarding co-development of new application-specific electric vehicles, rolling out and cross utilisation of charging and energy infrastructure, sharing of best practices and learnings between two leading electric fleet owner-operators in India.”, Dhanpal added.
“As a company, we believe that Lithium has found the perfect partner in EverSource given their domain expertise in electric mobility and strong track record of partnering with founders of new-age businesses. With the fresh infusion, we are looking to serve our clients as a one-stop shop for their people and freight mobility requirements across the country and subsequently in global markets. Our aim is to help reduce transportation costs and operational complexity while raising the bar on transparency and employee safety along with a drastic reduction in their carbon footprint,” Sanjay Krishnan, founder and CEO, Lithium, said.
EverSource’s fundamental platform for offering B2B e-mobility solutions across the passenger and freight segments will be lithium. According to an official handout, the newly injected money will be principally focused in upgrading the technological platform, expanding the vehicle fleet, developing new vehicle platforms, and rapidly expanding its pan-India charging infrastructure.
