By 2030, the Government of India plans to have EV sales penetration of 70 per cent for commercial vehicles, 30 per cent for private cars and 80 per cent for two- and three-wheelers. The reason for this is the immediate need to decarbonize the transport sector. This is also in line with the Prime Minister’s announcement at COP-26. According to his announcement, India aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070.
The FAME India Scheme 2022’s second phase also aims to support, through subsidies, approximately 7000 e-buses, 5 lakh electric 3-wheelers, 55,000 electric 4-wheeler passenger cars and 10 lakh electric 2-wheelers in India. The demand for EVs has significantly increased thanks to attractive economics and the government’s push. RevFin Services estimates the industry will see a big increase. The company is a financial technology (FinTech) digital lending platform focused on increasing EV adoption for the under-banked and underserved. It estimates the industry will grow to USD 150 billion by 2030.
Many brands & start-ups are venturing into the EV market to transform the automobile industry landscape in India. Today, we take a look at a few examples –
Electron EV
The Bay Area in the USA and Hyderabad-based company was founded in 2018 with a single-minded mission. The mission was to bring the power of EV platforms to Light, Medium and Heavy-duty Commercial vehicles. ElectronEV says it wants to raise ‘N’ to the power of ‘EV’. For this, the company plans to introduce proprietary EV technologies. It will do so with its electric vehicles and end-to-end mobility solutions for a host of markets. These markets will include India, South East Asia, Australia and Europe. The company’s founders also envision anet-zero carbon infrastructure from well to wheels. They firmly believe that battery-electric powertrains will not only be fuel efficient to manufacture but also to own in the long run.
Volta Trucks
Founded in 2017, Volta Trucks aims to accelerate the transition to full electric trucks. The Sweden-based all-electric commercial vehicle start-up introduced Volta Zero in September 2020. The Zero is acclaimed to be the world’s first purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle.
The company began the development of the production version in January 2021. By December 2021, Volta also completed the first road-ready Design Verification prototype. The series production will start in late 2022. However, before this, Volta will also build production verification vehicles for customer evaluation in mid-2022. The company will manufacture them at its contract manufacturing site in Steyr, Austria.
Infraprime Logistics Technologies
Infraprime Logistics Technologies started in 2017. The company is developing electric heavy-duty commercial goods carriers which have a wide range of applications. These applications include – mines, infrastructure development, ports, construction and also inter-warehouse goods transportation. Infraprime has also pioneered many industry-first initiatives. These include just-in-time delivery of construction material, the roll-out of a driver app with widespread adoption, and the deployment of electric trucks. All this while also minimizing incidences of miscommunication and delay.
Tadpole Projects
This start-up electric mobility company started at Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) for Cobotics of IIT Delhi. Currently, it is the only home-grown country that converts ICE vehicles to EVs. Tadpole Projects started in August 2020 and is the pioneer in retrofitting ICE cars. Furthermore, it also aims to address issues around fossil-fuel-based vehicles, such as the scrapping policy and expensive EVs. The company converts existing cars to EVs, thus making renewable mobility accessible to everyone. With the company’s headquarters in Delhi, it also performs R&D and advanced testing of vehicles incubated under IIT-Delhi.
REE Automotive
REE Automotive is an electric platform leader that aims to reinvent e-mobility. Unrestricted by legacy thinking, REE has developed the next-generation EV platform. This platform is entirely flat, scalable and modular. Thus, it provides customers total design freedom to create the broadest range of EV and autonomous vehicles for current and future applications. REE Automotive’s services also include last-mile delivery, MaaS, light to medium-duty EV logistics and robo-taxis.
HOP Electric Mobility
HOP Electric Mobility is the country’s fastest-growing electric vehicle manufacturer. It is also a successful mandate holder of the Indian Government’s ambitious PLI scheme for Auto. It works on the B2B and B2C market with three E’s – electric, energy, and environment. HOP currently has a lineup of two electric scooters. These are the HOP LYF & HOP LEO. HOP will soon also launch a high-speed electric motorcycle, HOP OXO.
Furthermore, the company has also embarked on its multi-battery modular platform’s design and engineering journey. HOP Electric Mobility is also developing Gen 2 Smart Batteries and Swapping stations. It will also roll out two new products on the new platform supported by its second-generation batteries and a swapping station in 2023.
EVage
EVage is India’s leading purpose-built, all-electric commercial vehicle OEM. The company has transformed the transportation sector by combining the creativity of aeronautical engineering with the expertise of automotive design. It has also developed ground-breaking products like the single modular skateboard platform. This supports building multiple vehicle types, a lightweight yet tough exoskeleton covered with an innovative space-grade composite material and ultra-stable and advanced chemistry fast-charging batteries.
EVage produces all this in its Modular Micro Manufacturing factory setup. The company’s “Exoskeleton Structure” also acts as a practical standard architecture for trucks, vans, delivery cars and SUVs. Currently, EVage employs 50 people at its R&D and robotics centre in Punjab, India. All these employees also have experience in the automotive as well as aviation industries.
Also Read: HOP Electric Mobility expands to 100+ experience centres in India