Vijith Kumar V: Building Innovative Solutions For Seamless E-Mobility
Vijith Kumar V.
Co-Founder
There has been a strong push from the government to improve the penetration of charging networks and increased interest from the public and private players. With a passion for enhancing EV infrastructure, Vijith and his co-founders established Ionage technologies. The company offers India's first network-agnostic EV charging platform to create seamless and more accessible living with EVs and envisions making India the superpower in the EV industry.
After completing his Masters in Information Technology, Vijith has worked with Paypal and Instamojo, enriching his software expertise and developing a bird's eye perspective on the working of a startup. Even during his miss shots, he remained optimistic and learned the importance of building a team. CEO Insights recently engaged in a one on one interaction with Vijith, following is the highlight.
What inspired you to establish Ionage Technologies, and what drives you today?
Being passionate about automobiles, the topic of EVs got me interested, and I looked forward to working on it. As more Indians adopt electric vehicles, there are problems worth solving in the sector- scarcity of charging points, lack of consolidated information, and planning the trip, especially for long drives. To tackle such
problems, we came up with the idea of a startup and later decided to start a side project that could be a tool for EV owners in India, which laid down the birthstone of Ionage Technologies. Today, having understood the problems in the sector, we focus all our energy on solving those by building the right set of products, and we are currently in the execution phase.
Please tell us about the unique experiences NITK offers and what you learned from the campus beyond academics.
NITK is ranked among the top 10 best technology institutes in the country. It has an exceptional campus with one-half on a beach side where everyone used to chill in the evenings. Academically I got to work with their excellent faculty, including ex-industry experts and worked on projects of very high standards. Apart from academics, I gained valuable exposure to students of different demographics, enriching the experience.
How would you define Ionage Technologies as an organization and its position in the market?
Ionage is an early stage startup providing a unified charging platform to seamlessly access India's EV charging infrastructure. It helps you discover charging stations, smartly plan your trip to ensure your EV journey is predictable and free of anxiety and ultimately, pay & charge at charging stations across supported networks. The entire EVs ecosystem is nascent in India. Most players in this sector are just beginning to understand the market, the consumers, and the problems they face. Ionage pioneers in charging infrastructure solutions in the country and we are working hard to solve these problems for the businesses and customers who are part of this exciting journey.
Tell us about your flagship offerings and the value additions customers can expect from your
Leadership is also about being able to bring like-minded people together, convincing them to take a risky yet exciting journey and bringing about the collective effort to fulfill a dream
Please tell us about the unique experiences NITK offers and what you learned from the campus beyond academics.
NITK is ranked among the top 10 best technology institutes in the country. It has an exceptional campus with one-half on a beach side where everyone used to chill in the evenings. Academically I got to work with their excellent faculty, including ex-industry experts and worked on projects of very high standards. Apart from academics, I gained valuable exposure to students of different demographics, enriching the experience.
How would you define Ionage Technologies as an organization and its position in the market?
Ionage is an early stage startup providing a unified charging platform to seamlessly access India's EV charging infrastructure. It helps you discover charging stations, smartly plan your trip to ensure your EV journey is predictable and free of anxiety and ultimately, pay & charge at charging stations across supported networks. The entire EVs ecosystem is nascent in India. Most players in this sector are just beginning to understand the market, the consumers, and the problems they face. Ionage pioneers in charging infrastructure solutions in the country and we are working hard to solve these problems for the businesses and customers who are part of this exciting journey.
Tell us about your flagship offerings and the value additions customers can expect from your
services and solutions.
Ionage's unique solution helps businesses set up, operate and optimize EV charger networks at minimal costs and attract customers through our consumer offering. Catering to companies and individuals, our B2B customers are mainly in the energy business. Our solutions help them focus on their core business and strength while saving a ton of money on building consumer interfacing, marketing, and demand generation. We make access to charging infra agnostic of the charger make, location, and business it belongs to and provide value-added services to make EV adoption much easier and less anxious. It's more like a plug-and-play solution where you focus on setting up the infra and then connect it to our software systems, and right away, you go live for potential customers, which in this case will be EV owners. For consumers, we make access to charging infra agnostic of the charger make, location, and business it belongs to and provide value added services to make EV adoption much easier and less anxious.
What are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate, and what are the opportunities you foresee?
Currently, the EV ecosystem in India is nascent yet very active and has unprecedented participation from OEMs, ChargePoint operators, and early adopters. More and more consumers are willing to transition towards e-mobility, and this growth will sustain. In the electric vehicle market alone, we anticipate tremendous growth in terms of EV sales as more and more OEMs plan to launch better and, more importantly, affordable EVs in the next 3 -5 years. It gives immense confidence to every stakeholder in the ecosystem to double down on their business in the future. We have a great opportunity as our products will let these new and existing players achieve speed, cost efficiency, and, more importantly, reach potential customers.
Vijith Kumar V, Co-Founder, Ionage Technologies
A forward thinker and inspiring leader, Vijith believes in constant improvisation and is determined to make the adoption of EV easy, seamless and effective by showcasing his software expertise and bringing forward innovative solutions.
Ionage's unique solution helps businesses set up, operate and optimize EV charger networks at minimal costs and attract customers through our consumer offering. Catering to companies and individuals, our B2B customers are mainly in the energy business. Our solutions help them focus on their core business and strength while saving a ton of money on building consumer interfacing, marketing, and demand generation. We make access to charging infra agnostic of the charger make, location, and business it belongs to and provide value-added services to make EV adoption much easier and less anxious. It's more like a plug-and-play solution where you focus on setting up the infra and then connect it to our software systems, and right away, you go live for potential customers, which in this case will be EV owners. For consumers, we make access to charging infra agnostic of the charger make, location, and business it belongs to and provide value added services to make EV adoption much easier and less anxious.
What are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate, and what are the opportunities you foresee?
Currently, the EV ecosystem in India is nascent yet very active and has unprecedented participation from OEMs, ChargePoint operators, and early adopters. More and more consumers are willing to transition towards e-mobility, and this growth will sustain. In the electric vehicle market alone, we anticipate tremendous growth in terms of EV sales as more and more OEMs plan to launch better and, more importantly, affordable EVs in the next 3 -5 years. It gives immense confidence to every stakeholder in the ecosystem to double down on their business in the future. We have a great opportunity as our products will let these new and existing players achieve speed, cost efficiency, and, more importantly, reach potential customers.
Vijith Kumar V, Co-Founder, Ionage Technologies
A forward thinker and inspiring leader, Vijith believes in constant improvisation and is determined to make the adoption of EV easy, seamless and effective by showcasing his software expertise and bringing forward innovative solutions.