One of the major problems that many EV owners in India face at the moment is range anxiety. They often start panicking when they realise that their vehicle is running out of charge or doesn’t have enough charge to reach the next charging station. In many cases, the car battery completely drains and the owner is stranded in the middle of nowhere. A company noticed this issue and decided to address it by introducing a charger-on-wheels solution.
The video has been circulating on the internet for quite some time. In this video, we see a Tata Nexon EV parked in a parking lot. Next to the Nexon EV, we see a Maruti Eeco parked. It is not an ordinary Eeco van, but rather a mobile charger that comes to the vehicle instead of the vehicle being taken to a charging station.
After parking the vehicle, the operators open the sliding doors and reveal the setup. This is a commercial van, which means it doesn’t come with seats at the back. The cargo space is completely occupied by a DC fast charger. The fast charger is similar to what we usually see at charging stations. The startup behind this concept is called COW, which stands for Charger On Wheels. The company was started in 2024 and is headquartered in Gurugram.
The DC charger has charging guns that are then connected to the Nexon EV. This is a convenient feature for those who do not wish to wait at charging stations or are uncertain whether their car will make it to the destination on time. Apart from this, there have been several cases in the past where EV owners have found charging stations on the road that are not operational.
This charger-on-wheels service can be used by those who are in an emergency situation and are stranded in the middle of nowhere. It appears that the company is currently offering its services only to customers in the Delhi NCR region.
The company is not using energy generated from the petrol vehicle or a generator to power the DC charger. Instead, it uses a battery energy storage solution that works like a large power bank to charge EVs.
Apart from offering a charger-on-wheels service, the company is also partnering with real estate developers to integrate future-ready EV charging stations into residential communities. While this is definitely a unique business model to promote EV adoption, the comment section under the video is filled with several funny and sarcastic remarks.
Some of the comments include, “Finally, the time has come when you need a petrol car to charge an EV,” and “Car ke liye ambulance ?????… this shows EV car infrastructure is not ready.” Many viewers were happy to see someone start a business model like this and were curious to know whether the service is available in their city. Sadly, this service is currently available only in Gurugram.