Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) Ltd has tied up with Canadian clean technology company Ecamion Inc. to explore entering the energy storage business, with an eye on the electric vehicle opportunity, said a senior executive.
Ecamion, incorporated in Ontario, Canada, is a turnkey solution provider for the community energy storage industry, specializing in integration of battery solutions with advanced grid control interfaces to the control room.
It provides state-of-the-art modular energy solutions to power applications such as electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
According to Livemint, IL&FS Financial Services managing director (MD) and chief executive Ramesh C. Bawa said “We expect electric vehicles to be a big business opportunity in India and that is why we are tying up with Ecamion to explore various ways to tap this opportunity. One of the opportunities is to build charging stations for electric vehicles,”.
The proposed entry into the energy storage business will be housed under the group’s energy business—IL&FS Energy Development Co. Ltd—which includes other businesses such as thermal and renewable power generation.
IL&FS’s plan to enter the energy storage business comes at a time when several large Indian business houses have expressed their intentions to enter the energy storage and electric vehicle businesses. The tie-up with Ecamion is not IL&FS’s first relationship with a Canadian firm. With the assistance of Canadian export credit agency Export Development Canada (EDC), IL&FS plans to tie up with more Canadian firms in areas such as smart cities and affordable housing, said Bawa.
