Exicom’s Khushboo Chawla on how B2B marketing in the EV space is shifting from awareness to credibility

India's EV charging market is expected to be valued at $487.10 million by the end of 2025, with a projected growth of $1652.20 million by 2030, but selling charging infrastructure requires something different from traditional marketing. In sectors where engineering and innovation drive business, marketing operates with a different logic. 

The task is not simply to create visibility but to build credibility among an audience that demands technical depth and long-term reliability. This is the domain where Exicom, which manages over 1.73 lakh units worldwide, competes, not through promotional campaigns, but by crafting engineering-led narratives that speak directly to charge point operators, fleet managers, and automakers.

One of the key players in the industry, Exicom, brought in a consolidated revenue of Rs 205.30 crore in Q1 2026. Its EVSE segment grew 61.50% to Rs 52.80 crore, according to reports. In Q3 FY25, the brand's unit sales jumped 77% year-over-year, with revenue increasing 38%, outpacing the industry's 23% growth. Yet in B2B sectors driven by infrastructure and engineering, growth follows credibility, not the other way around. Khushboo Chawla, Chief Marketing Officer at Exicom, understands this distinction. Her 17 years across telecom and technology taught her how to build categories from the ground up. She now applies these experiences to an industry where its B2B customers need to trust that their charging infrastructure will function reliably for years, not just deliver on quarterly marketing promises.

Chawla brings clarity to what marketing means in this context. She explains that the work centres on simplifying complex technology without diluting substance, managing sales cycles that stretch 8-9 months, and building value narratives for audiences who want to understand both the product and its business implications. Digital channels capture the majority of spend, but small group events with 10-15 key customers drive deeper engagement. 

In this conversation, Chawla discusses what B2B marketing demands in engineering-driven industries, how credibility functions in emerging categories, the role AI plays in both product development and team capability building, and why the next phase of clean energy marketing will shift from awareness to community building. 

Edited Excerpts:

You’ve had over 17 years of experience and have moved from telecom and tech into the EV and clean energy sector. What inspired this transition, and how has your past experience shaped your approach to building an emerging category brand like Exicom?

I spent a long time working in telecom and tech, and this is my first foray into auto and EV. I wanted to enter an industry that is future-relevant and has an on-ground impact. Inspired by Buddhist philosophy’s concept of beauty, benefit, and good, I sought a role that allows me to use my craft, contribute to a sunrise sector, and create a positive societal impact. 

Telecom taught me scale, thinking in hundreds of crores, and category creation from early 2G rollouts through 5G. These experiences prepared me to handle the lifecycle of emerging technology categories like EVs.

In industries driven by engineering and innovation, marketing often plays a very different role. How do you define marketing’s responsibility at Exicom? What are the biggest mindset or skill shifts required?

Marketing in engineering and infrastructure sectors means simplifying complex things without diluting substance. Unlike traditional marketing focused on visibility, here we focus on building credibility because the EV industry is still small and concentrated. Building value narratives is key as B2B audiences want to understand the product and its business value. 

Marketing for B2B in engineering demands technical depth, ecosystem thinking, and managing long sales cycles of 8-9 months.

Can you tell me about your target audience and how you build awareness?

Credibility is the holy grail in the emerging B2B sector for us. The reward comes when customers trust and prefer our brand as a dependable technology partner. Our audience includes charge point operators, fleet operators building their hubs, and car manufacturers. We ensure they deeply understand the engineering and intelligence inside our products. Our communication addresses their pain points, like reliability or fast charging, based on their priorities.

What channels and touchpoints have been most effective for reaching your audience?

For our digitally savvy B2B audience, digital channels take the lion’s share of our marketing spend. However, small group events with 10-15 key customers for cerebral, knowledge-intensive discussions on product value and ecosystem building are extremely effective. These sessions build deeper engagement beyond typical product promotions.

You’ve highlighted AI as part of Exicom’s strategy. How is AI being used in marketing, and what impact has it had so far?

We use AI and ML extensively for predictive maintenance, monitoring every equipment component remotely, and reducing on-ground maintenance. In marketing, AI acts as a thought starter, enhancing brainstorming and productivity by automating repetitive processes. Though we haven’t fully deployed AI for precision-based marketing like intent detection yet, that’s on our roadmap. AI also serves as a powerful educator, helping our team rapidly acquire niche marketing skills and specialisations.

Do you think AI can be used to train marketers industry-wide?

Absolutely. AI accelerates curious learners' ability to explore and upskill on diverse subjects rapidly, far beyond traditional classroom limits. I’ve personally used AI as an educator and would be happy to contribute as a human guide to keep the learning relevant.

Could you walk me through some of Exicom’s key partnerships and how they have helped the brand?

Our marketing leans towards ecosystem marketing rather than just brand building. For example, our partnership with German company Hubject ensures interoperability across EV chargers, enabling ‘Plug & Charge’ where vehicles authenticate automatically, removing friction akin to charging a phone. This partnership is more developed in Europe and the US, but crucial for building the EV ecosystem. We also have software partnerships, like with INH for charger management, enabling charging station setup, especially for smaller operators.

The EV charging and clean mobility sector has often been perceived as a male-dominated industry, with barriers like sexism and the proverbial glass ceiling limiting women’s growth. From your experience, how prevalent are these challenges today, and how have they shaped your own journey as a woman leader in this space?

Though new to EV, I come from STEM sectors where women were underrepresented, but that’s changing; now 43% of STEM graduates in India are women, which is a significant increase. This reflects downstream effects in traditionally male-dominated fields like manufacturing, engineering, telecom, and EVs. At Exicom, we foster a flexible and mentoring environment, especially for women joining core engineering and product design roles.

There's still work to do, but the industry is becoming less male-dominated. Encouraging more women in leadership and technical roles is key.

Looking ahead, what marketing trends do you see shaping the clean energy and EV sector in the next 3-5 years?

The sector will shift from awareness-building to credibility-building shortly. In the next 1-2 years, the category will evolve into a community with a strong brand tribe shaping marketing initiatives. Down the line, the clean tech categories like EV, solar, and clean materials will converge narratively, reflecting interconnected pursuits towards sustainability. Marketers who can communicate this bigger vision effectively will excel.