Vertelo, a new platform for end-to-end fleet electrification in India, was introduced by Macquarie Asset Management, a division of Macquarie Group, along with an announcement of a $1.5 billion investment over the following ten years.
“The transition to EVs will bring significant benefits to India, increasing its energy independence and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Vertelo aims to play a key role in accelerating this transition by making it easy for its customers to realise the benefits of going electric immediately,” said Abhishek Poddar, India country head, Macquarie Group.
Vertelo has entered into long-term leasing agreements with Tata Motors to purchase up to 2000 electric vehicles over the following three years, Chalo Mobility to provide 44 JBM-manufactured electric buses, and Eka Mobility to purchase 2000 electric buses throughout the following three to five years.
“We own and operate companies across funds globally. In India, we want to develop an integrated fleet electrification solution provider. We aim to transform India’s EV ecosystem by driving large-scale adoption of electric vehicles.” Sandeep Gambhir, CEO, Vertelo.
He adds that the new company’s name comes from a combination of convert and velocity which is to accelerate the transition to being electric. Vert also means green in French and bringing in green in our name was very important to us, he says.
“There are challenges like high upfront costs, obsolescence risk of the battery, limited availability of capital, lack of charging infrastructure, etc. That’s where we come with a solution to make it viable for them to run electric fleets,” he adds.
The business wants to offer end-to-end solutions, such as end-of-vehicle life management, leasing and financing options, fleet management services, and energy and charging infrastructure solutions.
