An ex-L&T engineer, a sibling team, and the city of Vadodara. $106M, 13,500 stations, 36,000 km of highways — India's EV charging backbone is built.
Kartikey Hariyani spent years at L&T watching how industrial infrastructure gets built — including time with BMW AG and Stanley Electric in Japan. In 2018, he used that knowledge to found ChargeZone in Vadodara with siblings Kinnari and Devbrat. He built ChargeCloud before he built a single station. Today: Macquarie Capital, British International Investment, $106M raised, 13,500+ stations, and the ambition of one million charging points. India's EV decade runs through Vadodara.
Kartikey Hariyani
Co-Founder & CEO · ChargeZone
The L&T Engineer Who Saw the Bottleneck Clearly
Kartikey Hariyani spent six years at Larsen & Toubro watching how infrastructure gets built from the inside. He was a Sales Specialist at L&T from 1998 to 2004, then an International Business Manager — spending time in Japan with BMW AG and Stanley Electric Japan, and in Germany — before returning to Gujarat and founding TecSo Projects Limited, a project engineering company. For over a decade, he studied how large-scale industrial infrastructure projects succeeded and failed: the supply chains, the commissioning challenges, the technology integration, and the gap between what was promised and what was delivered.
In 2018, that knowledge pointed at one obvious gap. India's electric vehicle policy was advancing — GST reductions, FAME II subsidies, OEM commitments. But the charging infrastructure was near-absent. A few slow AC chargers in parking lots. Almost nothing on highways. No cloud management platform that could run unmanned stations at scale. No company that had approached EV charging as infrastructure — not as a consumer app, not as a side business, but as the electrical equivalent of building a petrol bunk network.
Hariyani founded ChargeZone in July 2018 with his siblings Kinnari and Devbrat. He had earned a TÜV SÜD ISO 9001 certification. He built ChargeCloud — the proprietary cloud-based charging management software — before deploying a single station, because he understood that at network scale, every charging station that required a human to operate it was a business model that could never work.
BlueOrchard, Macquarie, BII and the Infrastructure Capital Stack
The investor lineup that assembled around ChargeZone is, in itself, a proof of thesis. It is not a consumer tech investor stack — it is an infrastructure capital stack. BlueOrchard Finance, the global impact investment manager that led the $54 million Series A1 in March 2023, specialises in deploying capital into sustainable infrastructure in emerging markets. Macquarie Capital — the principal investment arm of Macquarie Group, which manages $900 billion in assets globally and built much of Australia's, Europe's, and Asia's toll roads, airports, and utilities — acquired a strategic minority stake in December 2023. British International Investment, the UK government's development finance institution with a mandate for climate-aligned infrastructure in emerging markets, committed $19 million in April 2024.
None of these are investors who back product launches or growth hacks. They are investors who back decade-long infrastructure compounding. They backed ChargeZone because Macquarie's DNV-led technical due diligence confirmed what Hariyani had been saying: ChargeCloud is genuinely differentiated — a CMS that enables fully unmanned, remote-monitored operations across thousands of charging points, scalable without linear cost increases. It also operates as a SaaS and PaaS product — ChargeZone already licenses ChargeCloud to run the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's UAE charging stations. The infrastructure is the product, and the software makes it possible.
SBI and other nationalised banks have contributed ₹300 crore in debt. Total invested in infrastructure since founding: ₹400 crore. The mix of development finance, infrastructure capital, and state bank debt is the capital structure of a utility — not a startup.
13,500 Stations, 36,000 km and the Million-Point Target
The April 2025 network announcement changed the scale of the story entirely. By formalising OCPI-based roaming partnerships with Statiq, Pulse Energy, Chargemod, Electreefi, and Ennovator, ChargeZone created India's largest combined EV charging network: 13,500+ stations accessible through a single platform. Monthly energy sales crossed 10 GWh — a metric that tracks the actual electricity delivered to Indian EVs, not just station counts. Fleet charging utilisation across the network exceeded 22.5%; personal vehicle utilisation is growing past 5% with 50% year-on-year growth.
36,000 kilometres of Indian highways have been electrified by ChargeZone infrastructure. Corridors include Bengaluru–Chennai, Bengaluru–Hyderabad, Bengaluru–Pune–Mumbai, and Mumbai–Ahmedabad — the arteries of India's most EV-active commercial freight and personal mobility markets. Charging speeds range from standard DC fast chargers to 1.2MW ultra-fast stations — the highest commercially deployed in India. Volvo Car India's 360kW ultra-fast station on the Mumbai–Nashik Highway is a ChargeZone installation.
Hariyani's FY26 capex plan — ₹300–400 crore in fresh infrastructure investment, targeting 300% growth in utilisation — is the plan of a company that turned profitable at balance sheet level in 2022 and is now deploying capital to compound. The target remains one million charging points by 2030. From Vadodara's Notus IT Park, an electrical engineer who spent years in Japan and Germany learning how industrial infrastructure works has built the company that will determine whether India's EV decade actually functions.
"Our business model has been about investing and building charging stations — building gas stations of the future by delivering electricity for EVs. Our infrastructure and technology have been our differentiators since the beginning, as all our charging points are unmanned. EV adoption is no longer a question of 'if' — it is already happening."
— Kartikey Hariyani, Founder & CEO, ChargeZone (Autocar Professional, 2025)
Company Timeline
- 1998–2018
Kartikey Hariyani completes B.E. Electrical Engineering at L.D. College of Engineering, Gujarat University, and joins Larsen & Toubro Limited as a Sales Specialist (1998–2004). He works as International Business Manager at L&T, spending extended time in Japan working with BMW AG and Stanley Electric Japan, and in Germany. He earns TÜV SÜD ISO 9001 certification. He then founds TecSo Projects Limited — a project engineering and technology solutions company — building industrial and energy infrastructure expertise over a decade.
- Jul 2018
ChargeZone (TecSo Charge Zone Pvt. Ltd.) is founded in Vadodara, Gujarat by siblings Kartikey Hariyani (CEO), Kinnari Hariyani (Director), and Devbrat Hariyani. The founding thesis: India's EV revolution will be bottlenecked by charging infrastructure. The solution must be technology-driven, unmanned, and scalable across both highways and urban corridors. ChargeZone begins building its proprietary ChargeCloud CMS platform from day one — a decision that will define its competitive moat.
- Sep 2019 – 2022
First funding: $70.2K angel round (September 2019). Venture Catalysts leads a bridge round in December 2021 ($10M). Total raised by 2022: ~$13M. ChargeZone deploys fast-charging stations across Gujarat and major highway corridors. ChargeCloud goes live — enabling the company's first unmanned, remotely monitored charging stations. 80% COCO (Company-Owned, ChargeZone-Operated). DOCO (Dealer-Owned, ChargeZone-Operated) franchise model introduced. Balance sheet profitability achieved in CY2022.
- Mar 2023
$54 million Series A1 raised — led by BlueOrchard Finance (global impact investment manager) — mix of equity and $8M debt. ChargeZone crosses 3,500 charging points across 1,500+ stations in 37 cities and 20,000+ km of Indian highways. OEM partnerships active with Hyundai, Mahindra, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Volvo-Eicher, Marriott, Hyatt, Landmark Group. Target announced: 3,000 high-speed DC stations by 2025. 1 million charging points by 2030.
- Dec 2023
Macquarie Capital — the principal investment arm of Macquarie Group, one of the world's largest infrastructure fund managers — acquires a strategic minority stake in ChargeZone. DNV (the Norwegian technical assurance firm) conducts full technical due diligence. Macquarie Board Member Maheep Jain joins ChargeZone's board. Macquarie's infrastructure expertise and global network adds operational and capital market credibility that no India-only VC could provide.
- Apr 2024
$19 million from British International Investment (BII) — the UK government's development finance institution (April 30, 2024). Total raised reaches $106M. BII's mandate: accelerate climate finance for India's EV infrastructure. ChargeZone announces plans for 1,500+ supercharging stations in next 18 months. ₹300 crore in debt raised from SBI and nationalised banks. $360M capex investment plan announced — targeting 500 supercharging stations ranging 360kW to 1.2MW.
- Apr 2025
OCPI-based roaming partnerships signed with Statiq, Pulse Energy, Chargemod, Electreefi, and Ennovator — creating a combined network of 13,500+ charging stations, making ChargeZone the single-largest CPO in India. Monthly energy sales cross 10 GWh. 250,000+ registered users. Fleet charging utilisation: 22.5%+. 36,000km of Indian highways electrified. ₹400 crore total invested in infrastructure since founding. FY26 capex: ₹300–400 crore planned.
- Sep 2025
ChargeZone acquires Zerovolt's Wadala Charging Facility in Mumbai (September 8, 2025) — adding a strategic urban charging asset on one of India's most high-volume freight and personal EV corridors. Stanford GSB-certified, ex-L&T engineer Kartikey Hariyani has built India's largest EV charging company from Vadodara — the city most associated with Baroda's industrialist tradition — without relocating to Bengaluru, Delhi, or Mumbai. The infrastructure thesis is proving correct.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ChargeZone's COCO and DOCO model?
ChargeZone operates 80% of its directly deployed charging stations on a COCO (Company-Owned, ChargeZone-Operated) model — ChargeZone owns the hardware, land lease or installation, and operates the station via ChargeCloud. The remaining 20% use the proprietary DOCO (Dealer-Owned, ChargeZone-Operated) franchise model — a third party (dealer, property owner, fleet operator) owns the physical station investment while ChargeZone operates it through ChargeCloud and handles all technology, maintenance, and billing. DOCO allows rapid network expansion with reduced capital requirement, while COCO ensures quality control and profitability on premium corridors.
What is the BillionE platform and how does it relate to ChargeZone?
BillionE is a separate e-mobility platform co-founded by Kartikey Hariyani in October 2022, focused on the digital experience layer of the EV market — aggregating data, services, and user experiences beyond the physical charging transaction. ChargeZone (hardware, infrastructure, ChargeCloud CMS) and BillionE (digital platform, user experience) operate as complementary parts of Hariyani's broader e-mobility ecosystem. BillionE raised $10M in seed funding in 2023.
How does ChargeZone compare to Tata Power EV Charging, BOLT Earth, and Statiq?
ChargeZone is the largest independent EV charging network in India by combined station count (13,500+) and the deepest in highway infrastructure (36,000km). Tata Power EZ Charge is strong in urban and residential charging with the parent group's balance sheet advantage. Bolt Earth (BOLT) is urban-focused and integrates two-wheeler charging. Statiq is a VC-backed player with aggressive urban deployment. The key differentiators for ChargeZone are: proprietary ChargeCloud CMS (enabling unmanned scale), highway corridor depth, heavy commercial vehicle charging capability (buses and trucks alongside cars), and institutional-quality investor backing (Macquarie + BII + state bank debt).
What is ChargeZone's renewable energy integration plan?
ChargeZone has committed to integrating solar and wind power generation at charging stations wherever permitted under state electricity regulations. The goal is to have a significant portion of its charging network powered by renewable energy by 2030, aligning the charging stations with India's clean energy targets. The company's $360M capex plan explicitly includes renewable energy integration as part of its supercharging station build-out. Macquarie Capital's interest in ChargeZone was partly driven by this renewable integration pathway, which aligns with the infrastructure giant's global clean energy investment mandate.