Electric vehicle technology will evolve: SIAM

“Refreshing of EV products will happen for the next 10 years because this is a new ecosystem including customers,” said Mahesh Babu, Chairman, SIAM Electric Mobility Group.

“And there’s going to be new technology. It is going to evolve in a period of time like we witnessed the transition from landline telephony to mobile phones,” he added during the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers during the 12th Lecture Series on Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India: Development, Testing and Homologation.

Thanks to the continuous air pollution that is affecting our cities, the government of India is pushing for electric vehicles as a cleaner form of mobility. However, some challenges remain – like the high cost of acquisition, low number of charging points and battery end of life disposal, among others.

SIAM's campaign highlighted the importance of design, development, testing and homologation aspects of hybrid and electric vehicles in the Indian context.

Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, said: “EV is one of the important pillars in the transformational journey of mobility. In this backdrop, back to back lectures series are planned to understand the nuances of hybrid and electric mobility, development, testing, homologation and on-road experience around safety etc.”

Reji Mathai, Director, ARAI, said “The process of developing and certifying measures have been quite robust. The EV ecosystem needs to be developed in India, and it has to be an in-house development. As the regulators, we are ready to support the industry including upcoming start-ups and MSMEs.”

Giving a global perspective, Claas Bracklo, Senior Consultant Electro mobility, VDA & Chairman, Char.IN (Germany), said: “We have defined a charging infrastructure system that’s capable of being expandable in the future. At a national level, it is important to standardize the needs for the eco-system so that investments can happen without the risk of being obsolete or not accepted.”

Mr Nitin Seth, COO, Switch Mobility, Ashok Leyland, added to the conversation, “Lightweight EV design is going to play an important role. Most companies were modifying the model of diesel buses into EV buses. That may not be the way forward and hence it has to be grounds up approach to design and develop EV products.”

Kanan Subramaniam, Head, Project House Electrification, Bosch Automotive Electronics India, added: “For aspirational vehicles, performance is the key. There are two important interrelated factors here. The first is the customer’s requirement and the second is the technological maturity. The Indian environment is very diverse as opposed to any other geography. For a conventional vehicle which is being sold in retail, it is critical that EV performance does not suffer.”

S J Dhinagar, Co-Chairman, SIAM Electric Mobility Group, said: Last mile connectivity and how they are critical to the ecosystem was discussed in brief. The session also focused on the ways to do smart charging and how Indian consumers are slowly and steadily adopting the new mission of electric mobility.”