Ultra-Fast Charging Might Jumpstart India's Electric Bus Revolution

In the not-too-distant future, many of the world’s megacities – those metropolitan areas with a population of more than 10 million people – will be located in Asia, naturally including India.

- Stephen Voller, CEO and Founder, ZapGo Ltd.

The viability of the country’s urban transport will be a major concern, and not only must residents be able to move around efficiently but air pollution in these densely populated areas must be minimized as well. It is well known that conventional diesel buses produce a great deal of emissions, and converting them to cleaner fuels such as natural gas does not eliminate the problem entirely. Therefore, the most desirable goal is zero emissions, entailing converting bus fleets to all-electric.

The prospect of all-electric bus fleets, however, presents a challenge. Envision hundreds, or thousands, of buses returning to a single depot at night. How can sufficient energy be supplied to recharge those vehicles simultaneously? With diesel buses, one can maintain diesel pumps and refuel one bus after another. But with an electric fleet, sufficient energy needs to be available to be able to plug multiple vehicles in at the same time. This presents a challenge in areas where the electric grid may not be particularly reliable.

A potential solution to this challenge involves a phenomenon known as ultra-fast charging, in which the prohibitively long charging times encountered with existing batteries for electric vehicles are drastically reduced. One technology that can make this potentially viable is Carbon-Ion™ (C-Ion®) cells, a fast-charging and safe alternative to lithium-ion batteries, the standard energy source for electric vehicles today.