Overview

SUN Mobility, a global leader in energy infrastructure and battery‑swapping solutions, showcased its world‑first Modular Multi‑Battery Swappable Solution on Tata Motors’ 12‑metre Starbus EV platform at Prawaas 5.0, India’s largest bus and mobility exhibition, held at the Helipad Exhibition Centre in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on 9 July 2026. The inauguration was performed by Mr Amrendra Singh Kishore, Director of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, in the presence of Anand S (Vice President and Business Head, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles), TV Srinivas (Head, Product Planning, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles), Chetan Maini (Co‑founder and Chairman, SUN Mobility) and Ashok Agarwal (CEO, SUN Mobility – HEV Business).

Solution Details

The AIS‑038 certified Modular Multi‑Battery Swappable architecture enables simultaneous swapping of two battery packs, completing the process in under five minutes. It supports both 100 kWh and 50 kWh configurations and is compatible with vehicle gross vehicle weights ranging from 3 t to 55 t, covering segments from 3‑ton trucks to 55‑ton heavy vehicles and bus lengths from 7 m to 13.5 m. The design is OEM‑agnostic, allowing the same underlying platform to serve staff transport, city transit and intercity fleets without re‑engineering.

Business Model – Battery‑as‑a‑Service (BaaS)

Under SUN Mobility’s BaaS approach, the battery is decoupled from the vehicle; operators pay only for the energy consumed, while the swap operator assumes responsibility for battery replacement, performance and obsolescence. This model lowers upfront acquisition costs, aligns financing terms with internal‑combustion‑engine (ICE) vehicles, and mitigates range‑anxiety by eliminating charging downtime.

Digital Ecosystem

Every swappable EV operates as a connected node on SUN Mobility’s intelligent network, transmitting battery health, location, driver behaviour, energy usage and predictive‑maintenance alerts. Over‑the‑Air (OTA) updates are enabled through a proprietary Digital Twin platform that creates a live virtual replica of each battery pack and swap event, facilitating predictive degradation modelling, remote fault diagnosis, optimized swap scheduling and carbon accounting at the individual vehicle level.

Deployment Scale and Environmental Impact

SUN Mobility, backed by marquee investors including Bosch, Vitol, Helios Climate and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), has deployed more than 1,900 Swap Points across over 23 Indian cities. To date, the network has powered more than 70 million battery swaps, logged 465 million electric kilometres and avoided the emission of over 100,000 metric tonnes of CO₂. The company has also formed a 50:50 joint venture with IOCL, IndoFast Swap Energy, to accelerate nationwide rollout of the swapping network.

Market Context

India’s commercial bus market, valued at USD 12 billion according to a CEEW 2025 study, is at an inflection point, driven by policy mandates such as FAME II, the PM E‑Drive programme and state‑level procurement targets. Battery swapping is positioned as a critical enabler to address high upfront vehicle costs, charging downtime and operational inefficiencies, thereby supporting rapid electrification of hard‑to‑abate segments like staff transport, city transit and intercity corridors.

Company Background

Founded in 2017 by Chetan Maini (Maini Group) and Uday Khemka (SUN Group), SUN Mobility has pioneered open‑architecture battery‑swapping solutions for two‑, three‑ and four‑wheelers and now extends its technology to heavy electric vehicles. The firm holds more than 275 patents developed in‑house and operates the Swap Point™ infrastructure, which has already facilitated over 70 million swaps across India and several international markets, including Africa and Southeast Asia.