Plugzmart

Chandraprakash G | 2023-Dec-13

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 (Own hardware)
Dual CCS2 guns: No

RFID Card: No
RFID Key tag: No

Charging station and cost

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

Distribution

List of charging stations in Tamilnadu:

1. IITM Research park

2. Max Showroom, Porur

3. Vikravandi

4. Nayara petrol bunk, Viluppuram

5. Amika hotel, Madurai

6. Andhrula Restaurant, Yercaud foothills

7. Annapoorna Hotel, Salem

Below are the recently added stations

1. Amika hotel, Madurai

2. Andhrula Restaurant, Yercaud foothills

Note:

All of the above stations are created in PlugShare app as well

Pros

1. Neatly maintained charging bays which are protected while not in use to avoid other vehicles blocking the charging bays

2. Plugzmart app shows the charging SoC of the EV in their app, which is useful to some extent for other planning/arriving to charge especially with single gun per location

For Example, If any user planning to arrive at Plugzmart see someone charging at <30% then they would assume it should take at least a hour or more to fill the other car, so they can skip the charge without arriving

3. 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 unlike other CPOs where almost everyone outsources the hardware as well as the software from 3rd party vendors

Cons

1. Plugzmart app is displaying the 3 pin socket locations as charging stations in their app are very annoying for the users as no one uses 3 pin or even Type2 on highways

2. All their stations have single CCS2 gun which are really bad, Having at least two guns per stations is mandatory to avoid significant waiting time for EVs arriving to charge

3. Plugzmart having only 24/30 kW max for their charging stations charging stations are not preferred by EVs capable of pulling above 30 kW, which would increase the charging time significantly

4. Just for simple topup in Plugzmart application, you are forced to give permission for reading sms, update in whatsapp and to authorize them to read your credit report!

5. At this point there is no RFID card/tag been provided by Plugzmart, probably due to very less stations

6. Plugzmart - Pronounced as Plugs mart, which is pronounced by many as Plug-Z-Mart.

I hope if the company writes as Plugz Mart this should solve most of these pronunciation issues

Gallery

First Plugzmart charging station at Kurinjipadi, TN (Chennai-Trichy side)

7.2 kW Type 2 & 30 kW CCS2 near Nayara petrol pump at Ayyur Agaram, TN