Takes majority stake to rapidly scale technology, fleet and pan-India charging infrastructure, in the biggest deal in the EV passenger mobility segment
Mumbai, 21 March 2022: EverSource Capital (EverSource), manager of India’s largest climate impact fund, today announced that it has invested in Lithium Urban Technologies Pvt Ltd. (Lithium) for a majority stake. Lithium is the largest operator of electric cars in India, providing services to 50+ marquee clients since 2015 with a presence in 15+ cities.
Incorporated in 2014, with an order book of over 2,000 vehicles and a network of 600+ charging stations powered by a proprietary technology stack, Lithium has delivered 180+ million electric miles over the last seven years. The company also recently expanded its offerings to corporate clients providing large form factor buses and freight management solutions using a 100% electric fleet. Lithium’s tech stack comprising fleet management, connected vehicles with charging infrastructure and demand management platform enables its fleet of electric vehicles to deliver 2x productivity, reduce carbon footprint by up to 100% and bring down the transportation costs by up to 40%.
On this partnership, Dhanpal Jhaveri, CEO, EverSource Capital, said, “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.”
Lithium will be EverSource’s core platform for providing B2B e-mobility solutions across passenger and freight segments. The freshly infused funds will be primarily invested in enhancing the technology platform, expansion of vehicle fleet, development of new vehicle platforms and rapid expansion of its pan-India charging infrastructure.
“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.
Commenting on the acquisition, Sanjay Krishnan, Founder and CEO, Lithium, said, “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.”
Saleem Asaria, Partner, Lightrock India, said, “We have been grateful to have been able to play our part in helping Sanjay and his team in their ever-growing ambition of scaling electric mobility in India. As Lithium moves onto its next chapter, we are pleased to hand over the baton to Eversource Capital. They are immersed in the space of sustainable mobility across various form factors, have access to long-dated capital and, in our opinion, are the ideal partner for Lithium going forward.”
Over the last seven years, Lithium has created a lasting impact on reducing carbon footprint and employee safety while improving the livelihoods of its drivers. With this investment, Lithium aims to roll out 10,000+ application-specific electric vehicles in the next 18-24 months coupled with required charging infrastructure and provide a platform for drivers to own EVs without demand or supply-side constraints.
About EverSource Capital
EverSource Capital is a 50:50 joint venture between the Everstone Group, a premier investment group focused on India and Southeast Asia, with assets under management in excess of US$6 billion across private equity, real estate, credit, climate change and green infrastructure, and venture capital; and Lightsource bp, a global leader in development and management of solar energy projects with over 20+ GW under development. To know more, visit www.eversourcecapital.com and follow us on Linked In
About Lithium Urban Technologies
Lithium Urban Technologies operates the largest fleet of 4-wheeler passenger EVs in the world, outside of China. It is India’s first zero-emission service, with its own fleets of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and associated charging infrastructure, backed by a strong technology platform that involves telematics, fleet management systems, scheduling, rostering and analytics-based optimisation; and trained and certified drivers. Lithium also owns and operates India’s largest EV charging network spread across 15 cities in India. As a socially conscious company, Lithium is the only transportation company to have received the ISO 26000 guidance on social responsibility. Lithium’s institutional investors include EverSource Capital, LGT Capital and International Finance Corp (a World Bank Group Co). Lithium is a recipient of several national and global awards, including the prestigious Financial Times, London Transformational Awards 2019.
For media queries:
Karan Anand
+91 9833373732
kanand@everstonecapital.com
Archana Thomas
+91 9972819603
archana@themavericksindia.com
