The future of mobility will be built on open digital infrastructure. Just as India created globally recognized digital public infrastructure through systems like UPI, the next phase of innovation will come from initiatives such as the India Energy Stack and interoperable mobility networks that allow vehicles, chargers, energy providers, fleets, and consumers to interact seamlessly. Kazam’s role is to help translate these open-network principles into production-grade systems that can operate reliably at scale, says Akshay Shekhar, CEO and Co-founder, Kazam in an interview with Evolution Auto India.
Q: What inspired you to co-found Kazam, and what problem in the EV ecosystem did you feel needed urgent attention?
Akshay Shekhar: When we started Kazam, we observed that EV adoption was accelerating rapidly, but the infrastructure required to support it was not keeping pace. The challenge was much larger than installing chargers. Millions of EV owners needed safe and reliable charging access at home, charging network operators lacked the visibility and insights needed to scale efficiently, and commercial fleets needed better ways to manage energy consumption and operating costs.
We founded Kazam to build the digital infrastructure that connects these pieces of the ecosystem. Our platform helps enable home charging for everyday EV users, provides operators with the intelligence needed to manage and expand charging networks, and supports energy optimization for large electric fleets. We believed that EV adoption would ultimately depend not just on vehicles, but on making charging accessible, reliable, and efficient at scale. That belief continues to guide how we build Kazam today.
Q: Kazam focuses on building digital infrastructure for EV charging. How do you see charging evolving over the next five years?
Akshay Shekhar: Over the next five years, charging will become significantly more intelligent, connected, and integrated with the broader energy ecosystem. While public charging networks will continue to expand, much of this evolution will happen at home, where nearly 90 percent of EV charging already takes place. An EV charger typically draws around 3 kW of power, often doubling the load of a typical household, making homes an increasingly important part of how utilities and grid operators plan for future energy demand.
Charging will also become more closely linked with energy transition. Home chargers will increasingly integrate with rooftop solar, green power procurement models, and, over time, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies that allow EVs to support the grid. As charging becomes embedded across homes, workplaces, logistics hubs and public spaces; the focus will shift from simply installing chargers to building the digital infrastructure that enables seamless energy management and interoperability.
Achieving this will require open, interoperable networks. Initiatives such as Unified Bharat e-Charge (UBC), built on Beckn Protocol and the Unified Energy Interface stack, are laying the foundation for charger discovery, payments, and settlement across networks. Kazam’s role has been to help build the production-grade infrastructure that enables these systems to operate reliably at scale across India’s evolving charging ecosystem.
Q: Range anxiety and charging accessibility remain concerns. What is the biggest barrier to mass EV adoption today?
Akshay Shekhar: The conversation has moved well beyond range anxiety and we think that framing actually understates where we are. The real challenge today is ecosystem confidence: the assurance, for both consumers and businesses, that EV charging will be available, reliable, and economically sustainable wherever they operate.
For individual users, this means knowing that charging access won’t be a source of friction. For fleet operators and infrastructure investors, it means knowing that the business model holds over time. Solving this requires alignment across technology, policy, and capital and that is precisely where software-led infrastructure becomes the critical enabler.
Q: Kazam has worked across multiple vehicle segments such as two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and fleets. Which segment do you think will drive the next wave of EV growth?
Akshay Shekhar: Commercial mobility will continue to drive the next wave of EV growth in India. Fleet operators, logistics providers, and three-wheeler operators have clear economic incentives to electrify because EVs offer lower operating costs and predictable utilization patterns. What we find particularly interesting, though, is how these segments will pull each other forward. As commercial charging infrastructure expands, it creates density and reliability that directly benefits two-wheeler adoption. The transition won’t be linear and it will be driven by these compounding network effects across segments.
Q: As a startup founder, what were some of the toughest decisions you had to make in the early stages of building Kazam?
Akshay Shekhar: One of the toughest decisions was choosing to focus on long-term infrastructure rather than short-term opportunities. Building foundational technology requires patience, conviction, and significant investment before results become visible.
We also had to make difficult choices around prioritization deciding which products to build, which markets to focus on, and where to allocate limited resources. As a founder, learning to say no is often as important as identifying the right opportunities.
Q: With the rise of AI, IoT, and smart energy systems, how do you see technology reshaping the mobility sector?
Akshay Shekhar: We’re entering an era where mobility and energy infrastructure are converging, and software is the connective tissue. AI and IoT are enabling capabilities that simply weren’t possible before: predictive maintenance that prevents charger downtime before it happens, intelligent load management that prevents grid stress during peak hours, and real-time network optimization that improves both reliability and economics.
What excites us the most is the longer-term implication as vehicles, chargers, and energy systems become truly interconnected, we will be able to optimize not just how people move, but how energy is generated, stored, and consumed across entire cities.
Q: What qualities do you believe young entrepreneurs or students need if they want to build in the climate-tech or EV space?
Akshay Shekhar: Climate-tech is a long-term challenge that requires persistence, curiosity, and systems thinking. Entrepreneurs need to understand both technology and real-world customer problems.
The most successful founders are those who remain resilient through uncertainty, stay focused on impact, and continuously learn from the market. Building in climate-tech is not about chasing trends, it is about solving meaningful problems that create lasting value for society.
Q: Looking ahead, what is your vision for Kazam and for India’s role in the global clean-mobility transition?
Akshay Shekhar: Our vision for Kazam is to help build the ecosystem that powers EV adoption at scale. That means creating technology platforms that are hardware-agnostic and inherently scalable, developing open protocols alongside government and industry stakeholders, and building energy management solutions that ensure electricity is used efficiently as transportation becomes increasingly electrified.
We believe the future of mobility will be built on open digital infrastructure. Just as India created globally recognized digital public infrastructure through systems like UPI, the next phase of innovation will come from initiatives such as the India Energy Stack and interoperable mobility networks that allow vehicles, chargers, energy providers, fleets, and consumers to interact seamlessly. Kazam’s role is to help translate these open-network principles into production-grade systems that can operate reliably at scale.
For India, this is a defining opportunity. We have the talent, market scale, and policy momentum to create solutions that are both innovative and affordable. We believe India can become a global leader in clean mobility by building open, scalable, and interoperable technologies that accelerate EV adoption at home while serving as a blueprint for emerging markets around the world.