List of Charge Point Operators (CPOs) in Tamilnadu
Chandraprakash G | 2023-Dec-13
Zeon Charging
Overview
Zeon Charging in TN is by far the most known, used & stable CPO as they had started early, expanding rapidly and covered almost most of the places in TN with their signature ABB 24 & 50 kW chargers and recently also included the Exicom 30 kW & 60 kW dual CCS gun machines.
Make: ABB, Exicom
Dual CCS2 guns: ABB (No), Exicom (Yes)
RFID Card: No
RFID Key tag: Yes
Charging station setup
DC - 24 kW, 50 kW, 2 x 30 kW, 2 x 60 kW
(Load shared between two CCS2 guns)
AC - 7.4 kW | 22 kW | 43 kW
(Available at 50 kW ABB charger and on destination charging)
Cost
AC & DC
₹24.9 + 18% GST = ₹29.4 / kWh
Signature 24 kW & 50 kW ABB machines on Zeon charging station
Never seen a Zeon charging station getting ICEd as they clearly mark the EV charging bays as well as the security informs the customers to not park ICE vehicles on charging bays
Relux Electric
Overview
Relux Electric is second most popular in TN only next to Zeon Charging, unlike Zeon which installs at good hotels, Relux focus primarily on just expanding into non available places like Toll booth, Junctions etc
Though quality and reliability is not on par with Zeon, they excel in expanding their stations pretty rapidly.
Make: Star charge, Exicom
Dual CCS2 guns: Star charge (No), Exicom (Yes)
RFID Card: Yes
RFID Key tag: No
Charging station setup
DC - 30 kW, 40 kW, 2 x 60 kW
(60 kW Load shared between two CCS2 guns)
AC - 7.4 kW
Cost
AC & DC
₹24 + 18% GST = ₹28.32 / kWh
Popular Relux charging staion at Hotel Aishwarya bhavan, Tindivanam
Beautiful 30 kW Star charge machine ruined by Relux stickers, even if left alone bare the Star charge machine looks awesome
Relux need to hire some quality UX Team like Zeon
Snak4EV
Overview
Snak4EV is third most popular in TN only next to Zeon and Relux, Snak4EV primarily focuses on very high traction region and quite good with geography & demography of a region, like expanding first into Kodaikanal, Velankanni and other frequented places.
Though it lacks in quality like Zeon or Relux, it shines in installing at frequented places.
Make: -
Dual CCS2 guns: No
RFID Card: No
RFID Key tag: No
Charging station setup
DC - 30 kW
AC - 7.2 kW
Cost
AC & DC
₹19 + 18% GST = ₹22.42 / kWh
Popular Snak4EV charging station at Kodaikanal lake parking area which is perfect to park the car to get the best food around or to visit the lake
Snak4EV has the worst of all the CPOs for managing the charging bays, which gets ICEd quite frequently, it’s a nightmare for the EV users to park and charge at these places
Overview
There are around a dozen Shell Recharge stations in Tamilnadu and all of them are located in and around Chennai.
Make: Star Charge
Dual CCS2 guns: Yes
RFID Card: No
RFID Key tag: No
Charging station setup
DC - 2 x 120 kW
(120 kW Load shared between two CCS2 guns)
AC - 3 x 3.3 kW
Cost
DC 120 kW
₹23 + 18% GST = ₹27.1 / kWh
AC 3.3 kW
₹20 + 18% GST = ₹23.6 / kWh
The 2 x 120 kW DC bays as well as the 3 x 3.3 kW AC bays are both chained to avoid other vehicles blocking the charging bay, which definitely need to be learned by other CPOs from Shell station
The Deli2go restaurant which operates 24/7 with 3 x 8 hour shift is really good for EV users catching up for a quick coffee/sandwich or to grab some snacks while getting charged is awesome
Overview
There are almost a dozen JioBP Pulse stations in Tamilnadu and they are being expanded in a quite slow pace.
Make: Exicom
Dual CCS2 guns: Yes
RFID Card: No
RFID Key tag: No
Charging station setup
DC - 2 x 60 kW
(60 kW Load shared between two CCS2 guns)
AC - 7.4 kW
(Available at some places)
Cost
Same cost for AC & DC
₹15.99 + 18% GST = ₹18.87 / kWh (Cheapest in TN)
The cost of charging at JioBP Pulse station is by far the cheapest in TN as one can save almost half the amount of cost at Jio than at Zeon
The lack of restaurant like Deli2go attached to shell is the major setback for people to skip the Jio stations, which might be crucial during charging session, though the Washrooms are decently well maintained and clean
Overview
There are only around half a dozen Charge Zone stations in Tamilnadu and seems to be expanding slowly.
Make: Ador Diagatron
Dual CCS2 guns: Yes
RFID Card: Yes
RFID Key tag: No
Charging station setup
DC - 2 x 60 kW
(Load shared between two CCS2 guns)
Cost
DC - 60 kW
₹21 + 18% GST = ₹24.78 / kWh
₹18 + 18% GST = ₹21.24 / kWh (Only for MG, Kia & Hyundai)
The location of charge zone station are mostly at 3 or 5 star hotels as most of them are directly setup by the company rather than 3rd party franchise model like other CPOs
Some of the instances getting ICEd by the owning hotel itself is pretty bad, I hope they are educated to park at other places and not at these charging bays as there were like 50+ parking slots free at the time of taking this picture
Overview
Pronounced as Plugs mart, there are only around half a dozen Plugzmart charging stations in Tamilnadu and seems to be in nascent stage of startup and expanding slowly but they have the advantage of developing their in house charging station as well as the software and they provide their software as service to other startups too
Make: Plugzmart
Dual CCS2 guns: No
RFID Card: No
RFID Key tag: No
Charging station setup
DC - 1 x 30 kW
AC - 1 x 3.3 kW | 1 x 7.2 kW
Cost
DC - 24 kW / 30 kW
₹25 + 18% GST = ₹29.5 / kWh
AC 3.3 kW
₹20 + 18% GST = ₹23.6 / kWh
Budding startup with just half a dozen charging stations across TN
They had nice software information like SoC of the vehicle charging at their station will be published on the app in realtime, so EV user planning to charge there can know whether car getting charged is at 20% or 80+% so that they can plan the charging stop confidently