India’s electric vehicle drive: Challenges and opportunities

RISING SUN

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Dec 3, 2017
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Tata Motors flags off first batch of Tigor electric cars from Sanand plant
Tata Motors on Wednesday rolled out the first batch of the Tigor electric vehicle (EV) from its Sanand facility in Gujarat.

The vehicles are part of the tender floated by the Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) for 10,000 EVs.
"This occasion is a significant milestone for Tata Motors and a proud moment for the entire team," Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran said in a statement.

He further added: "As we work together to build the future of e-mobility in India, I am confident that our customers will respond very favourably to this electric model.

Tata Motors CEO & MD Guenter Butschek said with Tigor EV, the company has begun its journey in boosting e-mobility and offering a full range of electric vehicles to the Indian customers.

"This tender (EESL) has effectively paved way for connecting our aspirations in the e-mobility space with the vision of the government," he added.

In September, Tata Motors had emerged as the lowest bidder for 10,000 electric cars tender issued by EESL.

For phase one, Tata Motors is required to deliver 250 Tigor EVs to EESL.
Tata Motors flags off first batch of Tigor electric cars from Sanand plant
 
Coming soon: Three new high-performance electric cars from Mahindra
Ramarko Sengupta| TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Dec 6, 2017, 18:22 ISTHIGHLIGHTS
  • Mahindra & Mahindra will offer three new high-performance electric cars by 2019-20
  • The announcement comes in the backdrop of the Indian government declaring that the country will only sell electric cars by 2030
  • Mahindra also believes that by 2020 battery costs will substantially come down making e-cars cheaper
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Representative Image

NEW DELHI: Mahindra & Mahindra the only carmaker that sells electric cars in India on Wednesday said that it will have three new offerings in the space by 2019-20. "We will have three new products (in the EV or electric vehicle space) which will be high performance ones," Mahindra Electric Mobility CEO (chief executive officer) Mahesh Babu said. He was speaking at a seminar on electric vehicles at the Norwegian Embassy in Delhi.


The three new cars will have top speeds of 186 kmph (kilometres per hour), 150 kmph and 190 kmph and will go from 0-100 kms in 9, 11, and 8 seconds respectively. The range for these cars would be 350 km, 250 km, and 300 km.

The announcement comes in the backdrop of the Indian government declaring that the country will only sell electric cars by 2030. "India surprisingly took a very bold step declaring what would happen by 2030... that changed the scenario in the last six months," Babu said while highlighting that the key challenge for the government lies in creating an EV ecosystem which includes a robust charging infrastructure.

Mahindra, which is otherwise popular for its range of SUVs (sports utility vehicles) currently has in its EV stable four vehicles-- the e2o (hatchback), eVerito (sedan), eSupro (mini-van) and eAlfa mini (rickshaw).

One the three new models that will roll out of the Mahindra factory in next couple of years will be the electric version of its compact SUV, the KUV100. Pawan Goenka, managing director, Mahindra & Mahindra had revealed this in October. The other two new vehicles in the electric space will be from the SUV and crossover segments, according to a company source. In fact, in October Goenka had gone on to say that all future SUVs and crossovers from Mahindra will have an EV version.

On Wednesday, Babu said the company is also working at making charging faster. "What would take 1-1.5 hours earlier would now take about 40 mins," he said. For a full charge the e2o currently takes about 5 hours.

Mahindra also believes that by 2020 battery costs will substantially come down, making it possible to offer electric cars at a cheaper price. Currently e-vehicles in India are expensive owing to the fact that lithium-ion batteries are costly and have to be imported. The e2o, for instance, starts at Rs 7.46 lakh (ex-showroom), which compared to a regular hatchback comes at quite a premium. "India is very sensitive to value for cost. We have been trying for the last seven years (to push e-mobility) but we have only achieved that much," Babu said stressing on the need for a "huge policy push" from the government's side.

India is one of the fastest growing car markets in the world, having clocked 3 million (petrol and diesel vehicles) in annual sales during the last fiscal. However, electric car sales in the country continue to be negligible compared to this.

Electrification of transportation will be high on the agenda of the Narendra Modi government in the days to come as India's cities choke on dangerous levels of air pollution. As the government pushes for electric mobility, companies like Mahindra are likely to have a first-mover advantage.

Coming soon: Three new high-performance electric cars from Mahindra - Times of India

TOP COMMENT
The push for e-vehicles is not just environmental but also strategic. Most oil comes from middle east and these countires with surplus funds divert it towards terrorism. A well known economist obsereved 10 years ago the close relationship between energy ( oil) and terrorism. There will be substantial drop in their income if USA, Europe, China, Japan and India move towards e-vehicles. This will take another 10 to 15 years and after this terrorism will decline considerably. -Mohan
 
we should make use of low oil prices to continue using petrol. National resources are limited and we should invest them in the right direction.
 
Maruti Suzuki Plans To Launch First Electric Vehicle By 2020

BQ Desk @bloombergquint
December 4, 2017, 3:54 pmDecember 4, 2017, 2:00 pm

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. plans to launch its first electric vehicle in India by 2020, with Suzuki and Toyota working to provide the carmaker with the necessary technology.
The government policy on electric vehicles is very clear, and production should not be further delayed, RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki, told BloombergQuint in an interview.
The carmaker is banking on the increasing demand for its new Swift Dzire to increase its market share. Bhargava, however, cautioned that if the automobile industry grows faster than the current pace, Maruti is unlikely to be able to maintain its market share, given its production constraints.

Here are the edited excerpts from the conversation:

How do you plan to ramp up production and increase your market share?
It is very difficult to predict how the market will grow in the coming months. If the market grows slowly and we can keep increasing production, then we can maintain our market share. But if there is an acceleration in the demand for cars and the market grows faster than it is now, we shall not be able to maintain our market share due to production constraints. The ability to keep the current market share depends on how the demand for cars plays out over the next few months.

How much capacity ramp-up do you anticipate in your Gujarat plant since new launches have seen a long waiting period and the growth is getting constrained?
The total capacity when there are two shifts running in the Gujarat plant will be about 20,000-21,000 units a month. A second shift has just begun in the plant and with the shift building up, the production will increase from the current levels and should reach 20,000-21,000 units in the next four to five months.

Will you be looking at setting higher prices for the products because all raw material cost, excluding rubber, has been increasing?
The increase in commodity prices has an adverse effect on the total cost of production. But that has been offset by the hedging we have done earlier in the year. Whether there is a need for prices to increase or not will depend on the totality of all the factors, including the impact of higher production. And that decision will be taken as we go along.

Do you expect Maruti to play a key role in selling electric vehicles in India?
I don’t think the decision to start manufacturing and selling electric vehicles can be delayed further. The government policy on it is very clear. It is necessary for car manufacturers, especially for Maruti as the number one car manufacturer, to conform to the government policy. What Suzuki is doing along with Toyota is to give Maruti the kind of technology to enable us to the lead in such vehicles in the Indian market.

By when do we see electric vehicles being launched in India?
The press note from Suzuki indicated that the start of the production of the electric vehicles should be around 2020.

Can you give us details on your order book and waiting period for the new swift Dzire and mention the production ramp-up plans?
The demand for the new Dzire is very high. There is a waiting list. We would be ramping up the production close to 20,000 units in a month.

Will you be launching a sports utility vehicle shortly?
We will launch a bigger SUV. The one we have is under 4 metres. We will therefore be launching an SUV higher than 4 meters. But it will not happen immediately in the next couple of quarters or even a year. It will take us a little bit longer to launch the SUV.

You can watch the full interview here.


Maruti Suzuki Plans To Launch First Electric Vehicle By 2020
 
India to make every single car electric by 2030 in bid to tackle pollution that kills millions
Technology will be introduced 'in a very big way', says minister
The Independent Online

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Delhi is India's most polluted city, according to Greenpeace, with concentrations of particulate matter 13 times the limit set by the World Health Organisation Reuters
Every car sold in India will be powered by electricity by the year 2030, according to plans unveiled by the country’s energy minister.

The move is intended to lower the cost of importing fuel and lower costs for running vehicles.

“We are going to introduce electric vehicles in a very big way," coal and mines minister Piyush Goyal said at the Confederation of Indian Industry Annual Session 2017 in New Delhi.

Comparing the drive to a 2015 initiative in the country to reduce energy bills by promoting LED lightbulbs, he told reporters: "We are going to make electric vehicles self-sufficient... The idea is that by 2030, not a single petrol or diesel car should be sold in the country.”

Mr Goyal said the electric car industry would need between two and three years of government assistance, but added that he expected the production of the vehicles to be “driven by demand and not subsidy” after that.

"The cost of electric vehicles will start to pay for itself for consumers," he said according to the International Business Times. “We would love to see the electric vehicle industry run on its own," he added.

An investigation by Greenpeace this year found that as many as 2.3 million deaths occur every year due to air pollution in the country. The report, entitled 'Airpocalypse', claimed air pollution had become a “public health and economic crisis” for Indians.

It said the number of deaths caused by air pollution was only "a fraction less" than the number of deaths from tobacco use, adding that 3 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was lost to the levels of toxic smog.

“India's pollution trends have been steadily increasing, with India overtaking China in number of deaths due to outdoor air pollution in 2015," the report said, saying a "robust monitoring system” was urgently needed.

Delhi was India's most polluted city, the report found, with concentrations of particulate matter 13 times the annual limit set by the World Health Organisation.

Mr Goyal said the electric car scheme would first target "larger consumer centres, where pollution is at an all-time high", such as Delhi.

India is going to replace all of its cars with electric ones by 2030
 
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First Batch Of Tata Tigor Electric Vehicles Roll-Out From The Sanand Plant

Tata Motor has officially rolled out the first batch of the Tata Tigor Electric Vehicle (EV), manufactured for the Energy Efficiency Services (EESL), an entity under the Ministry of Power. The new electric Tata Tigors came out of the producing line today at the company's Sanand plant in Gujarat. As a part of the EESL tender Tata Motors will be providing 10,000 electric cars and in phase 1, Tata Motors is required to deliver 250 Tigor EVs, for which it has received a letter of authority (LoA). For an additional 100 cars, the LoA is expected to be issued shortly by EESL.

First Batch Of Tata Tigor Electric Vehicles Roll-Out From The Sanand Plant - NDTV CarAndBike
 
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If one wants to secure the future, giga battery factories are the way to go. But, do we hear of these? no. More than defence equipment, batteries should have been given the push. Tell Musk, whatever sops he wants will be given, if he agrees to setup 2 giga battery factories in India. And one of these should be among the Top 3 biggest in the world.


India’s gigafactories: Reliance, Adani, Suzuki, JSW, Hero in race to set up multi-billion dollar battery plants
Anand Murali Sunny Sen September 19, 2017
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In what will be the biggest private investment in a new industry in recent years, India’s leading business groups are readying plans to enter battery manufacturing and battery pack assembly with investments running into several billion dollars over the next decade or so.

Reliance Industries, the country’s largest company by revenues, seems to be most ambitious of the lot. Multiple sources said the company had aggressive plans with one telling FactorDaily that it was looking at a factory that would produce Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries of 25 gigawatt-hours (GWh) capacity. A second source said that the Reliance factory would be in either Gujarat or Maharashtra.

“There is a lot happening in the EV space, and Reliance has long been in the energy business. Add to that, it now is a maker of phone and has telecom towers – all of them powered by Li-Ion battery,” said the second source, who is close to Reliance, asking not to be identified. A factory even at half the 25 GWh capacity “will be huge for India,” he added.

A 25 GWh factory will cost at least $3.5 billion, benchmarked against spending on global projects of similar scale. A request for comment sent to Reliance didn’t elicit a response.

Reliance already has a partnership with British oil and gas company BP for energy storage projects near solar and wind energy installations in India.

The global production of Li-Ion batteries stands at over 100 GWh today and is expected to climb to 273 GWh by 2021, according to data from Bloomberg. Electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla has the biggest factory that will produce 35 GWh annually when its so-called Gigafactory is fully built out in 2018 in Nevada, US. Most of the remaining capacity is coming up in China, with India not even a blip on the global batteries production map in most projections.

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China is predicted to increase its dominance in Li-Ion battery manufacturing in the years aheadThe Li-Ion bandwagon

The Adani, the JSW, the Mahindra and the Hero groups of companies are in the race to set up Li-ion battery production in India.

“Not only Reliance, others like JSW, Adani, and Mahindra are also looking at the battery pack business,” said a third source who has been in the EV industry for more than a decade now.

With the EV race in India starting — India has ambitions of being an all electric car nation by 2030 — international players such as Suzuki Motor Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have already unveiled their Li-Ion battery plans for India. Last week, Suzuki announced that it will invest Rs 1,150 crore together with Japanese partners Toshiba and Denso Corp. to set up a Li-Ion battery facility in Gujarat. Suzuki will own 50%, Toshiba 40%, and Denso 10% of the joint venture that will make batteries and battery packs for Indian car maker Maruti Suzuki and export to Suzuki.

Mumbai-based JSW Energy, part of Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group, which wants to launch EVs by 2020, is also planning to set up a battery factory. The energy storage opportunity for India extends beyond electric vehicles into telecom, micro grids, and solar storage for household and power banks, JSW Energy said in a statement in response to a FactorDaily query. “JSW Energy plans to enter into energy storage systems business for both in static and mobility applications as it will be forward integration of its existing business of power generation to distribution.”.

Hero Future Energies said it was awaiting a government policy before taking the plunge. “We are looking at energy storage and lithium ion battery packs manufacturing. That’s is a big opportunity, both in vehicles and utility, but we haven’t taken up a firm decision yet, on which direction we should take as there is no policy around it,” CEO Sunil Jain said on email. “It’s an expensive business to be in and we are waiting for the government to bring out some policy and some incentives.”

Requests for comments sent to the Adani and Mahindra groups were not answered.

Exicom, a telecom infrastructure provider that is part of the HFCL group, which has been in the Li-Ion battery business since 2013, is increasing its manufacturing capacity to 1 GWh. “We already have more than 500 megawatt of deployment, mostly in telecom towers for backup application,” said Anant Nahata, managing director of Exicom. “We have been importing the cells and making battery packs in our factory in Gurugram. The demand is slowly opening up – in the EV sector, for home use, for grid scale ESS, among others – especially after the price has come down in the past 24 months. We are expanding our capacity to 1 gigawatt now.”

Mobile towers, ATMs
The rush into Li-Ion battery production is part of a reset that India is attempting in its energy industry. India wants to reduce its oil dependency (it imports more than 80% of its crude currently) and move to a future that uses solar energy to power itself. It has an ambition to increase solar generated power to 100 gigawatt (GW) by 2022 from the current 13.65 GW.
But, this is only one part of the push. By 2030, the central government wants only electric cars to be sold in India. As early as the turn of this year, London consultancy IHS Markit predicts that India will overtake Germany to become the world’s fourth-largest car market by volumes; and the third-largest by 2020.

In its National Electric Mobility Mission Plan, the government targets six to seven million EVs on Indian roads by 2020. That target is likely to be missed but to power EVs, the country will need Li-Ion batteries and battery packs. Currently, the battery pack costs nearly half an EV’s cost in India. Any effort to reduce that cost – via local production, for instance – will add to the shift towards a lower petroleum footprint in the economy.

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A mobile tower and its backup power system atop a building in Kerala

The impact of this push is not just on EVs. With power outages common in India, mobile towers operated by telecom service providers and ATM networks are already among the largest users of Li-ion batteries.

“The largest consumer for Li-Ion batteries is telecom towers. Reliance Jio is already importing batteries for its telecom towers. The diesel gensets used in the rural telecom towers are now being replaced with Li-Ion batteries,” said Debi Prasad Dash, Director of industry body India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA). “Similarly the Lead-acid batteries used for telecom towers in tier-1 and tier-2 cities are also being replaced with Li-Ion batteries.”

Mobile towers, the second largest consumer of diesel (used to power generators) after the Indian Railways, are under pressure to move to less environmentally-harsh sources of energy. The Indian telecom regulator has recommended mobile operators to convert all rural mobile towers and 50% of urban mobile towers to be hybrid powered by 2020.

Reliance Jio, the mobile phone service owned by Reliance Industries, has been procuring Li-ion batteries produced by Paris-based company SAFT for powering its mobile towers. In 2015, Reliance Jio had placed an additional order for Li-Ion batteries, from the Evolion series manufactured by SAFT, worth over €20 million.

Virtuous Li-Ion prices
The prices of Li-Ion cells are also falling, increasingly making the solar energy-battery storage combination to power energy needs a reality.
Back in 2011, Li-ion batteries cost around $600 per KWh to produce but with improvements in battery technology, this cost has substantially come down. Today, batteries around $200 per KWh. Tesla claims that the Tesla Model 3 battery comes at a cost below the $190 per KWh mark.

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While the Model 3 is yet to hit Indian shores, Tesla founder Elon Musk was said to being wooed by the government to set up a manufacturing unit for its EVs in India. Musk had even tweeted that a Gigafactory in India would make sense in the long run.

https://factordaily.com/reliance-adani-lithium-ion-battery-factories-india/
 
@Abhay Am aware of these. But, these are still too small, too late. The factories in the US and China will be churning out the batteries and would have started recovering by the time we start our factories. And as they did before, they will undercut us.

The number being thrown is the 120 GW capacity factories are under construction as we speak. This means, they will be online, when we finish talking about it. My point is, instead of harping on defence as the poster child of Make in India, we should be making power batteries poster child for it. Technology for the same was transferred by DRDO to BHEL and Adani(not sure if Adani or another group).

With a country the size of India, you need BIG factories which can bring down economies of scale and thereby by globally competitive. Small piece meal will not do.

Once we talk about getting the factory, one needs to talk raw materials. That is a different ball game.
 
@Abhay Am aware of these. But, these are still too small, too late. The factories in the US and China will be churning out the batteries and would have started recovering by the time we start our factories. And as they did before, they will undercut us.

The number being thrown is the 120 GW capacity factories are under construction as we speak. This means, they will be online, when we finish talking about it. My point is, instead of harping on defence as the poster child of Make in India, we should be making power batteries poster child for it. Technology for the same was transferred by DRDO to BHEL and Adani(not sure if Adani or another group).

With a country the size of India, you need BIG factories which can bring down economies of scale and thereby by globally competitive. Small piece meal will not do.

Once we talk about getting the factory, one needs to talk raw materials. That is a different ball game.

The problem is unlike China or US we don't have industries to absorb the production of such magnitude to justify the required investment. No industrialist would invest unless there is an existing demand to cater the production. It's the same age-old chicken-or-egg situation that we have been seeing in electronics(semiconductor fab) industry as well

but I am net pessimistic here as the government is seriously interested in shifting the length and breadth of transport from fossil to electricity. It's not that they are too concerned about the environment but they seriously want to reduce the ever growing crude import bill and their actions on ground are the reason of my optimism ie.

EESL to procure 10K electric cars for various ministries - Times of India (It has already happend)

and Now they are gonna float another tender for more 20000 cars

Govt plans second EESL tender for 20,000 electric vehicles by early ...

and at the same time they are trying to make required charging infrastructure to compel users to adopt EV's

Govt. Invites Tenders For 10000 Electric Vehicles & 4000 Charging ...

and I am sure pretty soon they will come up with idea of shifting all the private cabs to electricity as well (my forecast)

and Look at what is happening in Railway


Railways targets full electrification with Rs 35000-crore plan

Piyush Goyal to electrify Indian Railways by 2020; plans to remove ...


to cater such prospective demand we have to make huge investments and it would be very beneficial in the long run, not just it will dent the growing crude imports but instead those investment would create a lot of jobs and fuel the economy as well....
 
The problem is unlike China or US we don't have industries to absorb the production of such magnitude to justify the required investment. No industrialist would invest unless there is an existing demand to cater the production. It's the same age-old chicken-or-egg situation that we have been seeing in electronics(semiconductor fab) industry as well


That is where government sops come into play. Provide a 20 year window tax free. See how production goes up. By the way, production will also be for exports. Indian factories will be closer to the ME, than China. And we can always beat the Europeans in pricing.

Another little nugget, those companies which were there in the article, none of them is serious except Toshiba and Suzuki. The rest are just talks, and if I were to be realistic, ball talks. They have neither the technology nor the understanding on how to make the batteries.

Step 1 : Make this sector a priority for Make in India.
Step 2 : Improve relations with South America.
Step 3 : Provide SOPs to Reliance, Adani, Tata, Godrej and Mahindra.
Step 4 : Sign partnership deals with the Japs and Tesla to transfer technology. Allow 25% FDI, incrementally increased to 49% at the end of the 10 year window.
Step 5 : Avoid states where land acquisition is a problem and fast track it in states which want to do business.
 
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The reason why these people are trying to get electric cars is that oil is running dry. There is 700 billion barrels of oil left and the consumption is 30 billion barrel annually. So, obviously, there is little choice in giving up oil.

The real question is - will electric vehicles be practical or would we end up with 1950s technology due to lack of oil
 
Mahindra Matches Tata's Bid, To Supply 150 Electric vehicles In Phase-I

As per the tender conditions, Mahindra and Mahindra can supply up to 40 per cent of the order. But they have agreed to supply 30 per cent of the order of 500 electric cars in Phase-I. Thus they would supply 150 cars and Tata Motors would supply 350 cars.

By PTI | Published: Oct 05, 2017 04:16 PM


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  • Mahindra will supply 150 vehicles in the first phase
  • They agreed to supply 30 per cent of the order of 500 electric cars
  • Tata Motors would supply the remaining 350 cars


Mahindra & Mahindra has matched the lowest bid price offered by Tata Motorsunder the largest auction of 10,000 electric cars held last week and will supply 150 vehicles in the first phase, state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL). Mahindra and Mahindra will supply 150 electric vehicles in the first phase, it said. In Phase II, 9,500 vehicles will be ordered post Phase I deliveries.

"ESSL confirms order for Phase I of its Electric Vehicle tender Mahindra & Mahindra matches lowest bid price, quoted by Tata Motors," the EESL said in a statement.

Also Read: EESL To Acquire 10,000 Electric Cars For Various Ministries Under FAME Scheme

"As per the tender conditions, Mahindra and Mahindra can supply up to 40 per cent of the order. But they have agreed to supply 30 per cent of the order of 500 electric cars in Phase-I. Thus they would supply 150 cars and Tata Motors would supply 350 cars," EESL Saurabh Kumar told PTI.

Asked about Phase-II procurement of 9,500 cars post Phase-I deliveries, he said, "Mahindra and Mahindra have matched the bids. As per tender, they can supply up to 40 per cent of order. It is up to them to decide about the quantum of supply within their permissible limit (40 per cent)."

Tata Motors had emerged as the lowest bidder for 10,000 electric cars auction conducted by the ESSL. The company had quoted the lowest price of Rs 10.16 lakh exclusive of GST.

Tata Motors will provide electric cars for Rs 11.2 lakh, which will be inclusive of GST and comprehensive five-year warranty which is 25 per cent below the current retail price of a similar e-car with three-year warranty.

The vehicles will be supplied with eight-week of issue of letter of award for phase I (by November 30 2017), it said.

Also Read: EESL To Procure 10,000 Electric Vehicles From Tata Motors
Along with procurement of 10,000 EVs through international competitive bidding, the EESL will also identify a service provider agency.

This agency, also appointed through competitive bidding, will carry out end-to-end fleet management of the procured electric vehicles for the concerned government customer.

Apart from continuing to aggregate demand, the EESL will also be responsible such as co-ordination between appointed agencies, monitoring and supervision, reporting, complaint redressal and payments.
The electric vehicles procured under the current tender will be used to replace petrol and diesel cars currently used by the central government and its agencies over a 3 to 4-year period.

Mahindra Matches Tata's Bid, To Supply 150 Electric vehicles In Phase-I - NDTV CarAndBike
 
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Mahindra confirms three new EVs in the works
7th Dec 2017 11:57 am
An electric version of the KUV100 is likely to be followed by an electric crossover and an electric SUV.
Nishant ParekhAuthor

At an electric vehicle conclave held at the Norwegian embassy in New Delhi, Mahindra’s EV arm, Mahindra Electric disclosed plans to launch three new electric vehicles in India.

"I am hugely bullish on India going forward with electric technology and it is clear that EVs are the way forward. We are working on three new products with higher range (between 250-350km) and we will announce them by 2019-2020," Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric said.

The first of the three products will be an electrified version of its KUV100 hatchbackwhich will go on sale by end-2018. Mahindra's small car will have a range of 350km under the EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) testing cycle. The company claims the vehicle will be capable of hitting a top speed of 186kph with a 0-100kph time of 9sec.

The second EV, though not officially confirmed, is touted to be Mahindra's own version of SsangYong’s Tivoli. It will deliver a real-world range of 250km under the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) and is said to boast a top speed of 150kph, with a claimed 0-100kph time of 11sec. Mahindra is already developing a crossover in synergy with its Korean subsidiary for introduction in late 2018. An electric Tivoli will be the focus of SsangYong’s own electric car programme as reported by our sister publication Autocar UK.

The third model will be based on the XUV500 and could very well be the electric version of the XUV Aero, the SUV-coupé concept which was showcased at the 2016 Auto Expo.

Earlier this year, company managing director Pawan Goenka had hinted at the electric XUV Aero being "one of the options that the company is investigating". However, he cautioned that production would heavily depend on the cost of the high-voltage powertrain technology. Mahindra did reveal a range of 300km (as per NEDC tests) and a brisk 0-100kph claimed time of 8sec for such a model.

Mahindra believes India is set to witness a significant increase in EV adoption with projections suggesting 38 percent of total passenger vehicle sales coming from EVs by 2030. This figure, as projections indicate, could even go to up to 60 percent in case of hyper-adoption of the technology. At present, EVs make up a minuscule portion of total car sales. In 2016-17, electric car sales in India stood at 2,000 units, accounting for a meager 0.07 percent of total passenger vehicle sales (3,046,727 units).

The automaker revealed earlier this year that it is developing highly efficient electric powertrains with power outputs ranging from 90 to 165kW (120 to 204hp). Expanding on the plans, Babu said, “These are going to be highly efficient PMSM (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor) and vector-controlled drive systems, taking the efficiency from 80 percent to 94 percent.”

Mahindra is also working on high-density batteries which are believed to enable electric cars to better compete with conventional petrol engines in range. “Our focus is also on high-density batteries, taking the density from 80Wh/kg to 200Wh/kg with up to seven times the pack energy capacity from 10kWh to 70kWh. These 48V to 650V systems will be capable of delivering real-world range of up to 400km with globally benchmarked BMS (battery management systems),” added Babu.
With inputs from Mayank Dhingra, Autocar Professional.

Mahindra confirms three new EVs in the works
 
Prashant Ruia, CEO of Essar, is India’s first Tesla owner
Posted on December 13, 2017 by CarToq Editor
Prashant Ruia, the CEO of business conglomerate Essar, is the first Tesla electric car owner in India. The Tesla Model X electric SUV that was imported into India last week belongs to him. However, the car is not officially on sale in India. Mr. Ruia has imported the Model X through the private import route. The car, which costs around 120,000 US dollars or around 75 lakhs in the USA, costs about 2 crores in India if imported privately. Yes, one needs to pay a big price for exclusivity.

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The Model X is the only SUV in Tesla’s line-up. It’s more of a crossover than an SUV since it’s basically a high-riding car with 7 seats. It is the fastest electric SUV in the world. It uses 2 electric motors – one driving the front wheels and the other driving the rear wheels.
The combined power and torque outputs of these motors is around 750 Bhp and 967 Nm. This gives the Model X some really insane acceleration. 0-100 Kph takes 4.8 seconds. Top speed is 250 Kph. Tesla also offers a ‘Ludicrous’ mode on the Model X P90D variant, which speeds up the car even more, with 0-100 Kph taking just 3.2 seconds.

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The car is not just about performance – it also has a lot of futuristic technologies. For example, it has Auto-pilot, a semi autonomous driving system that can virtually drive the car by itself though a driver needs to be present in the driver’s seat. Also, if you are in a country that has Tesla operating, you don’t need to go to a dealership to order the car. You can do it online. Basically, Tesla is changing the way people buy and interact with cars. This is the reason why the first Tesla car in India is such a big deal. Tesla still has plans of officially launching a relatively affordable electric car in India – the Model 3. However, the exact timeline of launch has not been revealed yet.
 
ARAI to set up E-Mobility Centre of Excellence at Pune
5 days ago by Tushar Kelshikar

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Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) is setting up a separate body that will conduct tests and formulate regulations for electric cars and hybrid vehicles. The ‘E-Mobility Centre of Excellence’ will be setup in Pune in collaboration with various local and international organizations.

The new facility will house testing equipment including battery emulators, motor test beds, battery test systems, hardware-in-loop (HIL) systems for 2-wheelers, 4-wheelers and buses as well. The centre will be responsible for the development, evaluation, benchmarking, validation and certification of electric and hybrid vehicles and their sub-systems and components.
The ‘E-Mobility Centre of Excellence’ will be launched by Mr. Anant Geete, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises on December 15, 2017.

The announcement was made on the sidelines of iTEC India 2017 (International Transportation Electrification Conference India) that is currently being held in the city. This year’s theme for the conference is ‘Electrical Vehicle Ecosystem- Resetting the Future of Mobility’.

ARAI to set up E-Mobility Centre of Excellence at Pune | Team-BHP
 
Mahindra KUV100-based EV spotted testing
29th November 2017, 18:31 by Tushar Kelshikar

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According to a media report from last month, Mahindra has been working on an all-electric version of the KUV100. Now, a spy image has surfaced online which appears to be of the rumoured KUV100-based electric vehicle (EV).

At first glance, the car looks like a standard KUV100 test mule. However, a closer look reveals the lack of an exhaust indicating an electric powertrain under the skin. The person who spotted the vehicle has reported that the car did not have any engine noise as well. Also note that the rear window has been taped off and has a pipe sticking out which connects to something underneath the vehicle.

Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra had earlier stated that an electric version of the KUV100 was part of the company’s future product plan. It will be the third EV in Mahindra’s portfolio, following the e2o Plus and eVerito sedan.

Mahindra KUV100-based EV spotted testing | Team-BHP
 
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