Mobility mood is electric, but why aren’t EV-charging startups feeling it?

Since its launch in 2017, Magenta has built charging stations for electric vehicles in major cities, joining a clutch of clean-mobility startups propping up India’s patchwork EV infrastructure. In tech capital Bengaluru, it runs 11 locations, and the busiest ones see about 50 rides plugging in and out on a regular day. 

Commercial fleets of two- and three-wheelers tap this network and keep the company’s charging-as-a-service business ticking over. It signs up the willing clientele for at least 250 electrical units a month, earning Rs 13.5-17 per unit under a variable pricing model. It also sells parking at the monthly rates of Rs 1,800-2,500 per vehicle. 

With these numbers, Mumbai-based Magenta manages to avoid bleeding cash on operations. But that’s cold comfort when you are in a red-hot global industry, which has the weighty responsibility of driving the gasoline-to-green shift and aiding climate efforts.