Advanced battery-technology startup Log9 Materials on Monday said it has entered into a strategic partnership with Pune-based Northway Motorsport for retrofitting conventional small commercial vehicles (SCVs) into electric vehicles.
Under the long-term partnership, Northway Motorsport’s expertise to retrofit multiple used and brand-new internal combustion engine (ICE)-based SCVs into EVs will be used alongside the integration of Log9’s RapidX batteries, the company said in a statement. The two partners will thus enable retrofitment (ICE vehicle to EV conversion) service on a request basis for the existing vehicles on the road, it added.
Further, Northway Motorsport will also tie up with various retrofitment workshops around the country, starting with metro cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. “With this partnership, we are attempting to deliver best-in-class efficiency and productivity to provide impetus to seamless last-mile deliveries with electric four-wheeler commercial EVs,” Log9 Materials Co-Founder & COO Kartik Hajela said.
He said as of today, there are very limited options for a 4-wheeler commercial EVs in the Indian market, and additionally, existing 4W commercial EVs are suffering due to charging downtime and low battery life. Log9 Materials aims to speed up the process of getting more and more CVs on road in order to “build use-cases around the success of converting the popular ICE commercial vehicles to electric-powered ones while using the InstaCharge technology” of the company, Hajela said.
The company claims that its InstaCharge battery technology provides nine times faster charging, better performance and battery life. Northway Motorsport Founder Hemank Dabhade said the company focuses on designing complete end-to-end solutions, specific to the applications from the grounds-up in order to achieve unique, compact and high-performance made-in-India products.
“Our partnership with Log9 is along the same lines, wherein we will be not just producing new retrofitted commercial vehicles and converting old ones to electric with fast-charging capabilities, but also launching a first-of-its-kind e-4W retrofitted SCV that would result in up to 70 per cent monthly operational savings while retaining unchanged payload capacity,” Dabhade claimed.
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