Electric Vehicles This Week: Gayam Motor Works To Supply Smart Autos To Ikea, Magenta Power To Set Up EV Charging Corridor In Lonavala, And More

India may well be on its way to meet its Paris emissions intensity pledge, thanks to a lowered demand for electricity and a faster transition from coal to renewables. A doubling of India’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy from 2012 levels is a likely upper bound as the country powers its development through to 2030, according to researchers from the Centre for Policy Research, India.

To generate this report, the researchers examined the outputs and assumptions of 15 scenarios taken from seven major studies of India’s energy and environmental future. Development scenarios considered by the team predict that the rise in India’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from 2012 levels could be as low as 9% by 2030. At the other end of the scale, the highest prediction sees an increase of 169%.

“Our work seeks to provide a collective interpretation… [of] widely disparate modelling projections for India’s future emissions,” said Navroz K Dubash from the Centre for Policy Research, India.

Another white paper on electric vehicles published by Energy Alternatives India (EAI), a leading cleantech research and consulting firm, estimates that “exponential growth is feasible in the EV segment,  but not right away.”

“Electrification is to take place only in some selected segments over the next seven years,” said Narasimhan Santhanam, co-founder of EAI. He said that products with the potential to grow during 2018-2025 are electric scooters, electric three-wheelers including three-wheeled small commercial trucks, and electric buses.

Santhanam pointed out that driving range, battery systems, charging infrastructure, and upfront cost are all still major challenges in EV adoption in India.

Let’s take a look at EV developments in the 36th edition of Electric Vehicles This Week.

Important Developments In Indian Electric Vehicle Ecosystem

Magenta Power To Set Up EV Charging Corridor On Mumbai-Pune Expressway

Renewable energy services provider Magenta Power has announced it will set up an EV charging corridor at Lonavala on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The corridor — ChargeIn — will be an open platform for all EV charging stations for two/three/four wheelers as well as for bus fleets.

According to a media release, ChargeIn will have a fully integrated network of charging points, including AC and DC chargers, and all its points will be connected via a network for central monitoring and control.

ChargeIn will develop a fully automated OTP-based payment system. It is currently developing its ChargeIn application for EV drivers in order to enable them to use the facility.

Hyundai Plans To Introduce Full Range Of EVs In India

South Korean auto major Hyundai Motor is planning to introduce its full range of electric vehicles in India. The company has commissioned a study to explore manufacturing of such vehicles in the country.

YK Koo, MD of Hyundai Motor (India), said the company aims to build a range of electric vehicles in India in different price segments. “We will be adopting a top-down approach for EVs in the country,” he said.

“We want to have deeper footprints in the Indian electric vehicle market and are eagerly waiting for government’s support in this direction. Kona is the starting point, and we have to select one product to start manufacturing from our Chennai plant — but it will take a little bit of time,” said Koo.

EV Startup Gayam Motor Works To Supply E-Autos To IKEA

Hyderabad-based EV manufacturer Gayam Motor Works (GMW) will be supplying smart autos to Swedish furniture maker IKEA for its delivery services in India.

“IKEA has started adopting electric vehicles all across the world. It is a huge encouragement for startups like us. We also hope that this will set an example for other corporates for adoption,” Harsha Bavirisetty, COO, Gayam Motor Works said.

Gayam Motors counts Uber, BigBasket, Flipkart, Grofers, Gati, Chittoor Police, GVMC, the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments, and ChaiGuru among its customers.

Bus Pooling App ZipGO Raises Fresh Funding, To Add E-Rickshaws

Bengaluru-based bus pooling app ZipGo has raised $42.6 Mn (INR 300 Cr) in fresh funding from the Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group. Essel will invest the balance amount over the next 12 months to add electric rickshaws on ZipGo’s platform.

ZipGo, which offers intra- and inter-city bus services, said about $28 Mn (INR 200 Cr) has already been pumped in. The funds will be used to expand its fleet and network, besides transition to a completely electric fleet. The startup operates in Bengaluru, Delhi-National Capital Region, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Mumbai.

Essel Infra Projects said the investment was in line with its strategy to foray into the electric vehicles segment this year.

EV Startup UAPL Raises Funding To Expand Its R&D Team

Bengaluru-based Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd (UAPL), which is developing electric two-wheelers, has raised $862K (INR 6 Cr) in a Series A funding round from TVS Motor Company.

This is TVS’s second investment in UAPL and has increased its holding in the startup to 25.76%, according to a stock exchange filing. In 2017, TVS invested $700K (INR 5 Cr) for a 14.78% stake in UAPL. With the latest investment, UAPL’s total funding has touched close to $2.5 Mn, the founder of the startup revealed.

UAPL plans to launch its first two-wheeler by the end of 2019.

Tata Provides 10 Tigor Sedan Electric Vehicles To Cognizant

Tata Motors is said to have supplied 10 Tigor electric vehicles to IT major Cognizant. Tata Motors Finance will provide the financial assistance to Cognizant to procure the vehicles. The automaker also announced to supply and installation of two fast-charging stations at the Hyderabad campus of the technology company.

Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, executive director of Cognizant (India), said, “We are proud to lead by example and be one of the first companies in India to embrace the potential of electric vehicles as an innovative meeting ground of energy and mobility.”

EAI To Hold EV Summit On August 17-18 in Chennai

Energy Alternatives India (EAI), a cleantech research and consulting firm, has announced a two-day EV summit on ‘Where Innovation Meets Strategy for EVs’, on August 17-18 in Chennai.

“The EV Summit will strive to achieve clarity on the short- and medium-term growth potential of electric vehicles in India, and the business opportunities from such growth,” said Narasimhan Santhanam, co-founder of EAI.

EV Developments From Around The World

China’s Solar Giant GCL To Move Into Electric Cars

China’s leading solar equipment manufacturer GCL is planning a move into the electric vehicle sector, with an aim to make use of its expertise in energy to gain a vital competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded industry, executives of the company were reported to say.

GCL is currently building a $721.19 Mn solar production base in a new “eco-town” at Jurong near the city of Nanjing, which will also involve the construction of solar-powered residences, warehouses and public amenities.

Jurong is part of a “special town” programme launched by Jiangsu. The town’s 2-gigawatt solar panel production line is expected to be completed this year and go into operation.

Chinese Electric Car Company Nio Seeks To Raise $1.8 Bn IPO

China-based electric carmaker Nio has filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange, with plans to raise as much as $1.8 Bn in the initial public offering, the company said in a filing.

Founded in 2014, Nio started making deliveries of its first batch of electric vehicles — the seven-seat ES8 — in late June, after launching the $67K car last year. The startup expects to make the first deliveries of its second vehicle, the more affordable ES6 sport-utility vehicle, in 2019. It’s also looking to bring out a sedan called the ET7 in 2020.

Investors in the Shanghai-based startup include Baidu, Lenovo and Sequoia Capital.

Two Chinese EV Sharing Platforms Seek $730 Mn To Fuel Growth

Two electric vehicle sharing platforms backed by major Chinese carmakers plan to seek external funding of almost $730 Mn to fuel their growth.

The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group-backed Caocao Zhuanche, a chauffeur ride-hailing platform, is aiming raise up to $437 Mn in a new funding round. EvCard, an electric vehicle rental service under state-owned SAIC Motor Corp, is considering raising about $293 Mn from external investors, according to a people familiar with the development.

Caocao currently operates across 25 cities in China with a fleet of around 16,000 Geely produced new energy vehicles, while EvCard has operations in 62 cities with over 27,000 cars in use, according to their websites.

Vietnam’s Vinfast In Deal With Siemens To Make Electric Buses

VinFast Trading and Production LLC has signed two contracts with Siemens Vietnam, a unit of Siemens AG, for the supply of technology and components to manufacture electric buses in the Southeast Asian country.

VinFast, a unit of Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate, Vingroup JSC, said the deals will enable it to launch the first electric bus by the end of 2019. The company will also produce electric motorcycles, electric cars, and gasoline cars from its $1.5-Bn factory being built in Haiphong City, it said.

In June, General Motors Co agreed to transfer its Vietnamese operation to VinFast, which will also exclusively distribute GM’s Chevrolet cars in Vietnam.

Musk Working With Silver Lake, Goldman On Proposal To Take Tesla Private

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk recently said he was working with Silver Lake Partners and Goldman Sachs Group Inc for financial advice on his proposal to take the electric car company private.

“I’m excited to work with Silver Lake and Goldman Sachs as financial advisors, plus Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Munger, Tolles & Olson as legal advisors, on the proposal to take Tesla private,” Musk said in a tweet.

[Stay tuned for next edition of Electric Vehicles This Week.]