CESL partners with EV financing firm Three Wheels United to procure 70,000 three-wheelers.

Convergence Energy Services (CESL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Three Wheels United (TWU), a global fintech company specialising in EV financing, to procure 70,000 electric three-wheelers (E3Ws) to be deployed in multiple phases across India over five years.

Ïnitial procurement of the E3Ws, averagely priced at ₹3 lakh and ₹3.5 lakh for passenger and cargo categories respectively, will be deployed in Bengaluru and Delhi. As demand in other cities picks up, TWU will expand to those areas as well.

Under the partnership, CESL, a subsidiary of state-run Energy Efficiency Services (EESL), will aggregate high quality demand for electric three-wheelers from multiple cities across India by catalysing the market through proactive outreach and awareness creation around electric mobility. This will be in addition to the demand that CESL has already received from various cities across the country, it added.

The vehicles will receive subsidy from the FAME II programme administered by the Ministry of Heavy Industries to the extent eligible. The arrangement comes as a result of the 100,000-vehicle tender managed by CESL in response to a notification in the Gazette of India to aggregate demand for electric three-wheelers.

CESL MD and CEO Mahua Acharya said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with TWU on this project, honoured to have the benefit of their depth and credibility and excited at the prospect of building a fruitful relationship in pursuit of larger goals of sustainable e-mobility and livelihood creation. We also hope that partnerships such as these create the precedence needed in the country for the entry of mainline financing in last mile connectivity.”

TWU participated in a public call issued by CESL in 2021, soliciting interest from the financing and aggregating community for three-wheelers. TWU had the largest purchase requirement of vehicles that would benefit from the aggregation efforts of CESL.

TWU and CESL will also work on partnerships to drive co-financing of these vehicles at scale. The collaboration aims to utilise the prices discovered under CESL’s tender process—designed to provide affordable, sustainable, clean and green mobility In India. As per the agreement, TWU will procure the vehicles in multiple lots – varying from 100 to 20,000 units – to complete the entire process outlined in the MoU by 2027,” CESL said.

TWU CEO Cedrick Tandong said, “At Three Wheels United, our overarching goal is to improve livelihoods for drivers, reduce the climate impact of the transportation sector and accelerate efforts towards sustainable last-mile transportation. This partnership further strengthens our commitment towards eradicating barriers to mass adoption of EVs in India.”

HBL