As electric vehicle adoption accelerates across India, the conversation around infrastructure has largely centered on highways, public fast-charging networks, and commercial hubs. Yet, for millions of urban residents living in high-rise societies, the real challenge lies much closer to home.
It was this overlooked gap that led Jash Sheth to establish ACS Energy in 2022, a company focused not merely on installing EV chargers, but on solving the deeper infrastructure challenges within residential ecosystems.
At a time when EV adoption was clearly on the rise, Jash noticed a structural issue: daily charging would not happen at highways, but at homes. In densely populated cities like Mumbai, where shared transformers, sanctioned load limits, and complex stakeholder dynamics define residential infrastructure, there was no clear framework to support EV charging at scale.
Rather than approaching the problem from a hardware-first lens, ACS Energy was built to address what Jash saw as the real bottleneck: the invisible infrastructure layer inside buildings.
Where Systems Thinking Meets Startup Agility
Before launching ACS Energy, Jash gained experience across nuclear power and high-growth startup environments, two vastly different worlds that would later shape his entrepreneurial philosophy.
The nuclear sector instilled a mindset rooted in systems thinking designing for long-term reliability, safety, and redundancy where shortcuts are unacceptable. Startups, on the other hand, taught him the value of speed, adaptability, and customer-driven iteration.
ACS Energy emerged as a blend of both disciplines.
In clean-tech infrastructure, credibility and execution speed are equally important. Moving too fast can compromise reliability, while moving too slowly risks missing market momentum. This balanced approach now defines how ACS Energy builds infrastructure designed for long-term resilience but executed with startup-like agility.
Simplifying EV Charging Through UPI Innovation
One of ACS Energy’s notable contributions has been pioneering UPI-enabled EV charging in India.
Early EV charging systems often required apps, RFID cards, or wallet top-ups creating friction in a country that had already embraced seamless digital payments through UPI.
Recognizing this disconnect, ACS Energy introduced a system that allows users to charge vehicles as easily as scanning a QR code.
By removing app dependency and enabling instant payments through a familiar interface, the company is addressing one of the biggest behavioral barriers to EV adoption complexity.
Their platform, ACS Pay, extends beyond their own infrastructure by enabling third-party chargers to integrate into a unified UPI-enabled ecosystem.
Moving Beyond Hardware to Infrastructure Intelligence
Residential EV charging is not simply about installing charging points.
It involves navigating:
- Limited transformer capacity
- Fair billing frameworks
- Fire safety compliance
- Scalable power allocation
ACS Energy positions itself as an infrastructure partner rather than a charger vendor. Its integrated ecosystem combining hardware, charging management software (CMS), and AI-driven load management allows residential societies to scale from 10 EVs to 200 EVs without immediate transformer upgrades.
In environments where power supply is finite, intelligent allocation becomes critical. By controlling the full stack, ACS Energy optimizes capacity usage while generating valuable energy data creating long-term defensibility through infrastructure intelligence.
Building Trust in a Hardware-Led Business
In its early days, the company faced the classic challenge that most hardware-led startups encounter: trust.
Residential societies were cautious. Concerns ranged from fire safety and transformer overload risks to long-term reliability and business continuity.
Instead of pushing aggressive expansion, ACS Energy focused on pilot deployments and partnerships with credible developers.
Having Top Real-Estate Groups ( Ajmera Reality and Brigade Group ) as their shareholders and successful implementations became their strongest brand-building tool.
In infrastructure businesses, credibility compounds project by project.
Over time, the company’s positioning evolved from executing installations to becoming a strategic partner for future-proofing real estate developments.
Backed by Investors Who See the Structural Opportunity
ACS Energy raised $124K in pre-seed funding, led by Inflection Point Ventures.
Raising capital in hardware and infrastructure sectors is rarely straightforward, as investors often prioritize scalability and margin visibility. However, what resonated with backers was the inevitability of the problem ACS Energy is addressing residential EV charging.
Rather than being viewed as a hardware company, ACS Energy’s vertically integrated approach signaled long-term relevance in a rapidly electrifying mobility ecosystem.
The capital is being strategically deployed across:
- Accelerating deployments in Maharashtra and Gujarat
- Strengthening product reliability and load management capabilities
- Acquiring infrastructure assets from defunct Charge Point Operators operating on OPEX-heavy models
For ACS Energy, disciplined capital deployment is seen as more valuable than rapid expansion.
Scaling Infrastructure in a Complex Real Estate Landscape
Unlike software startups, scaling infrastructure brings operational complexities.
Every residential building presents unique variables: electrical approvals, civil work differences, regulatory compliance, and site-specific constraints.
To navigate this, ACS Energy is investing in standardized processes, trained vendor networks, and responsive monitoring systems.
With plans to deploy thousands of charging stations across Western India, operational excellence is becoming a central pillar of their growth strategy.
The Road Ahead
Looking forward, ACS Energy aims to play a significant role in India’s EV readiness over the next five years.
Its strategic vision includes:
- Expanding ACS Pay into public charging networks
- Becoming the default residential EV infrastructure partner in Western and Southern India
- Integrating renewable energy aggregation with EV charging ecosystems
- Supporting EV-ready building frameworks
By combining physical infrastructure with digital intelligence, ACS Energy is positioning itself at the convergence of mobility and energy transition.
A Founder’s Perspective on Building in Climate-Tech
Infrastructure is slow, capital-heavy, and operationally intense.
Trust, revenue, and scale take time .
But as India electrifies, the real opportunity won’t be in flashy layers — it will be in building the backbone. And those who commit to foundational infrastructure today will define the next decade.
Interview Conducted by : Arushi Agarwal
