Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

Which hat is easier to wear? That of an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer or an energy service provider? 

In an evolving EV landscape, which business has better margins? Original equipment manufacturing (OEM) or services? 

The answer to both, according to Chetan Maini, is the latter. 

As India’s first EV entrepreneur, who made the small electric car Reva (eventually sold to Mahindra & Mahindra), Maini was unarguably ahead of his time with the OEM. But with his six-year-old energy services company SUN Mobility, which provides battery as a service (BaaS) and mobility as a service (MaaS), he seems to have got the timing right. 

From having 2,000 vehicles on its platform in February, SUN Mobility has seen this figure grow to 7,000 vehicles in November, and hopes to have 20,000 by March 2023. By 2026, it’s eyeing one million vehicles across two- and three-wheelers and buses/trucks.

That would mean scaling its 180 charging stations in 18 cities today to 35,000 stations across India, with three million batteries dispensing 2GWh of energy daily.

For his part, Maini has built this scale into his plans.