Hinduja Group-backed
Gulf Oil Lubricants board of directors has approved an agreement with Gulf Oil International (GOI) to participate and co-invest in GOI's recent investment along with the Clean Growth Fund (GCF – a UK venture capital fund) in Indra, the UK Based Electric vehicle (EV) and smart energy technology company developing innovative charging and energy storage solutions for home and commercial use.
Ravi Chawla, MD & CEO – Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited remarked saying, “With the evolving EV Space in India, where charging options will become an important decision criterion, we are excited about this association."
Chawla added, "As we continue to evolve our strategy in this space, we will look at opportunities where we can leverage and synergise the Indra technology with our brand, distribution, OEM/ Infra-B2B customer relationships in India, to cater for the future market and consumer requirements in this space."
"Our prime focus would be passenger car and light commercial vehicle residential charging segment with Indra's Smart Chargers and we will also be evaluating opportunities in the two-wheeler segment with Indra going forward. The market is also expected to disrupt with new technologies such as V2G (Vehicle to Grid) chargers which are already developed by Indra and could support the power requirements of individual homes as a backup and also offer huge opportunities to form partnerships with potential microgrid solution providers in the future" Chawla said.
With this investment, Gulf India will get access to an established technology in EV charging space to adopt the same for Indian conditions and leverage its wide distribution and brand strengths to extend Gulf Branded residential and commercial charging points as per the evolving needs of Indian consumers.
Chawla further said, "As we continue to evolve our strategy in this space, we will look at opportunities where we can leverage and synergise the Indra technology with our brand, distribution, OEM/ Infra-B2B customer relationships in India, to cater for the future market and consumer requirements in this space."
The charging station market, as per estimates, is expected to have a good potential in coming years, where around 50-60% is expected to be in Residential Charging solutions which are where Indra is positioned to play," Chawla said.
Founded in 2013, Indra Renewable manufactures a range of smart energy products, including electric vehicle Smart Charger and a bi-directional 'Vehicle to Grid' (V2G) charger designed for both residential and light commercial use. Investment in Indra is a key stepping-stone for Gulf into the e-mobility sector, with the view to accelerate investments and partnerships in this space in future.
At around 2.54 pm, Gulf Oil was trading at Rs714.25 per piece up Rs18.20 or 2.61% on Sensex.