Electric Vehicles (EV) are gaining momentum in Indian market. Although, its feasibility is questioned due to charging problems, it is looked at as an environmentally-friendly mode of transportation. Arjun Jain, president and head electrical & electronics business, Varroc says, “The automotive market has been disrupted. There is an increasing trend towards cleaner and greener mobility. As the emission control norms for conventional vehicles get more and more stringent, there’s a clear movement towards electrification of vehicles.” According to the experts, 2- and 3-wheelers and public transport will be electrified before the wave hits the passenger vehicles space. Biju Mathews, CEO, ETO Motors expressed his thoughts by saying, “Since India is in the early stage of adoption, we intend to focus initially on 3-wheeler public transportation through e-autos and rickshaws in India by providing first mile, last mile, home mile, office mile and intra city services for commuters in India. Our strategic partnerships with public transport operators and aggregators would further enhance the penetration of electric vehicles in our country.”
EESL has a crucial role to play popularising electric passengers vehicles. Speaking about it, Animesh Mishra, head (sales & PR), EESL says, “We are working on aggregating demand by procuring EVs in bulk to leverage economies of scale. We are providing these vehicles to government departments and cab aggregators/institutions only. Thus, EESL has played an important role by being the catalyst and spurring electric vehicles market in the nation. Our e-mobility programme is further helping in creating awareness and boosting the adoption of e-mobility which has led to more consumers being conscious.”
Predicting the trend in manufacturing electric passenger vehicles segment, Sanjeev Saxena, president (automotive), Schaeffler India says, “We are of the view that most of the EV technologies at least in the PV segments will be developed outside India and brought in. We are keenly watching the development and are in close contact with our customers to ensure that with our global portfolio we are quick to fulfil our customers need here in the country.”
Manufacturing
Elaborating on the manufacturing, Ravneet Phokela, chief business officer, Ather Energy says, “EVs manufacturing is not as complex as conventional engines vehicles. A simple reason being EVs have very few moving components if compared to vehicles with conventional engines.
According to Nishant Arya, executive director, JBM Group, “India’s ‘one size fits all’ approach may not work in the case of EVs. Products and solutions in the EV domain have to be consciously customised to suit the demands and usage patterns across various geographies or our country. I believe that the public transportation segment in India is best suited to embrace EVs at a much faster pace. Also, the 2-wheeler segment looks promising in this arena.
Adding to it, Sulajja Firodia Motwani, founder & CEO Kinetic Green says, “Electric vehicles are more about software and electronics. Hence, the whole perspective towards engineering changes. As a result, supply chain for EVs is much different.”
Elaborating on the company’s efforts, Jain explains, “We recognised this inclination towards EVs at an early stage & have been developing product for EVs for last four years. As a result, we have capabilities of designing & manufacturing of complex electrical & electronics products. Also, we already design, develop and manufacture some of the components, which remain common for the conventional and electric vehicles such as lighting systems. Having said this, the level of technology for some of these components will change. E.g. lighting systems will most likely be LED to conserve battery life, digital clusters will likely have a connectivity offering & other increased featurization.”
We stand to benefit from the fact that content of electrical-electronic components per EVs is much higher than conventional vehicles. Today, we supply almost the entire electrical-electronics system for an IC engine vehicle; we’re looking to do the same for EVs,” Jain continues.
Explaining about their plant, Sulajja says, “We have a mother plant at Ahmednagar. In this plant we conduct activities including designing, assembling, welding, painting, testing, etc. Our parts are made to order. That’s the change EVs manufacturing is bringing about. It’s called asset light manufacturing. This philosophy becomes a threat to the OEMs which have huge investments in their manufacturing units. Also, the EVs OEMs require very few components, which is causing trouble to the components manufacturers.”
Lightweighting is crucial aspect in EVs manufacturing. The batteries are usually heavy and to achieve optimum fuel efficiency, light materials are preferred. “When it comes to EV manufacturing the major trends we should see are towards lightweighting and better battery technology being used. Today a lot of cheap Chinese imports are being assembled to make an EV. This trend must change towards more engineered products offering consumers reliable and safe products. What I believe is that we will see a lot of start-up facilities in the space of EV’s of different scale. Some will expand rapidly especially those who offer reliable, long lasting and products with better consumer acceptability. So, unlike in the normal auto sector you will see plant of different scale and sizes,” says Akshay Kahsyap, founder and managing director, GREENFUEL Energy Solutions.
Manufacturing capabilities
Elaborating on their manufacturing, Phokela says, “Currently, we have a plant in Bengaluru, where we focus on manufacturing of batteries and vehicles assembling. However, we are in the process of expanding our manufacturing. We will soon be setting-up a new plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. We manufacture our batteries in-house and source other components from suppliers. These are made as
per our designs.”
Highlighting on the JBM Group’s investments, Arya mentions, “JBM Auto had announced an investment plan to the magnitude of Rs. 500 cr. in a 3-year phase that started last year. We plan to put it in full force this year onwards. As on date, Rs. 200 cr. has already been invested in this business, the result of which has been our new product, the e9 ECOLIFE electric bus and the EV charging business that took off last year.”
On the other hand, SUN Mobility has collaborated with a few battery cell technology providers, and have set up a state-of-the-art battery manufacturing facility in Bangalore. “We have also invested in developing technologies, filed various patents, and plan to explore opportunities to expand the scope of battery manufacturing,” informs Yuvraj Sarda, head of strategy, SUN Mobility.
Challenges
“The challenges around manufacturing of EV’s in India can be grouped into three buckets. One, that the cost of the vehicle is much higher compared to a gasoline vehicle mainly on account of the cost of batteries. Two, the variety of concerns and apprehensions that people have with regard to the usage
of electric vehicles. The third concern is the time it takes to recharge the vehicle. Five to eight hours of consistent charging or even one hour in the case of fast charging. A person now is used to less than
a few minutes while refilling and anything which is more feels like a very long time. Also, the lack of
charging infrastructure forms a major hurdle on the rapid deployment of EV’s in the country,” says Arya.
Speaking about the challenges in the battery manufacturing, Sarda says, “Some of the components that are required in manufacturing batteries are currently not produced in the country, especially the core component, like the cell. Hence, this technology is imported from several countries, like China, Korea, Japan, and some European countries. There is some research being conducted in developing this technology, however, manufacturing of cells will happen indigenously only once it reaches critical mass, because economies of scale play an important role in this process. Until we hit a 1 GWH per annum capacity, economics of setting up a battery cell manufacturing facility do not work out. Other battery components, such as thermal management system or electronic chips are also being manufactured outside the country but are getting indigenized gradually, so we expect the supply chain of a battery pack to get indigenized over time as well. We also have a lack of skilled labour for such kind of manufacturing in the country—it requires specialised processes, dust-free environments, etc. which are also being adopted by Indian manufacturers.”
Seconding the same, Kashyap says, “What is important is to have an equal amount of spend on R&D towards cells as the technology is changing rapidly. For battery packs the challenges are different. if one truly wants to engineer a product that is safe, reliable and lasts for the lifetime of the vehicle. Today EV buyers don’t understand the difference between a cheap battery pack and the one that is engineered for the correct attributes. This needs to evolve. Once this happens battery pack manufacturers can easily scale & invest in making well engineered products and thus make EVs more acceptable to consumers. Scale is important to achieve cost efficiencies. This today is missing as the industry is extremely fragmented.
Are components makers ready?
Saxena explaines, “Schaeffler India has developed a twin speed seamless transmission that is compact and modular, innovative and fit to market for emerging markets. We call it the TwinTran.”
“Some of our products like traction motor & controller and DC-DC converter cater exclusively to EV
requirements. We are also present in the battery management systems (BMS) through our agreement with a leading global BMS supplier & we’re also working on on-board chargers. Our focus is to develop
products with higher efficiency to reduce the battery consumption, which will help OEMs reduce the battery size or get more range out of same capacity. If a customer would like to move towards hybrids, our indigenously developed ISG (Integrated Starter Generator) can act as a mild hybrid for two-wheelers as well.” Jain mentions.
Charging infrastructure
ETO and EESL being service providers are instrumental in creating charging infrastructure. Speaking about their efforts, Mathews says, “Currently, our EV charging infrastructure needs are being addressed by our group company Trinity Clean Tech which has installed over 16,000 kW installed capacity at 10 charging stations that have commissioned AC and DC chargers for e-autos, and Electric Buses.”
“EESL is working towards the same goal and is strengthening the charging infrastructure across the country. Till date, 73 Public Charging Stations (PCS) complying with Bharat Standard DC-001 (15kW) and 11 PCS complying with Bharat Standard AC-001 (10kW) have been commissioned. Apart from these public charging stations, EESL has installed total of 470 captive chargers, out of which 170 are DC-001 fast chargers & 300 are AC-001 chargers. We have already signed MoUs with various ULBs for setting up public charging infrastructure. Also, we have signed a MoUs with BHEL and BSNL to set up a network of Public Charging Infrastructure for electric mobility at various highways across the country. This will boost the interest of public commuting from one city to another enabling a smooth & sustainable transition to a future-oriented mobility solution. Our objective is to set up 10,000 charging stations over the five years across the country,” highlights Mishra.
What are manufacturers doing about it?
Kinetic Green has partnered with BPCL for swappable battery technology. Under the alliance, a range of Electric 3-wheelers, specially designed for facilitating swappable battery and a 2-minute battery swap will be deployed by Kinetic Green & BPCL, with support from IIT Madras, will provide smart Lithium – ion batteries & set up battery swapping stations across the country.
Ather Energy has developed fast charging technology to fasten the process of charging. A similar technology has been incorporated by JBM Group for its e-buses. “In the charging infrastructure domain, we are keeping with our vision of incorporating and upgrading our processes and systems with latest technology. JBM is providing complete e-vehicle charging infrastructure to support the efficient operations of EVs in the country. We have incorporated fast plug-in charging system in our electric buses as a result of which our buses can be fully charged in just one and a half hours,” Arya informs.
Conclusion
“There is much to desire in the electrified mobility solutions. Besides the passenger vehicles coming with hybrids solutions also carry lot of technologies and competencies. Schaeffler globally has made strategic acquisitions in the area of new mobility solutions– electric motors and autonomous driving. Europe was the first adopters of electric vehicle technology in passenger vehicles and for India we see the trend more towards two & three-wheeler segment in terms of volumes. We also see traction in in city small
commercial vehicles and mass transport segments. Having said that, we also estimate that internal combustion engines will continue to stay in the landscape in the mid-term but combined with electric or hybrid drives. Our focus is to develop technologies that are more focused on these segments while continuing to watch the developments in full electric vehicles. We possess the technology knowhow and as the volumes and demand pick up, we are here to serve the market needs,” concludes Saxena. “We are aiming to install around 1500 EV public charging stations by end of FY 2020-21 in Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chandigarh & Karnataka. As of now, we are working towards strengthening the charging infrastructure with an objective to set up 10,000 charging stations over the next 2-3 years across India. Also, we will procure 1000 e-cars in 2020-21. We are also in the process of signing MoUs with various states & government departments to promote EV adoption in India, which will further boost interest amongst the public,” notes Mishra.
In the future market may embrace EVs or prefer hybrids. Wherever it swings, it will move towards cleaner mobility options and better connected vehicles.