Former Tesla Exec-Led DGI Forms JV With EVage To Build Electric Motors In India

UK-based electric drivetrain systems manufacturer DG Innovate (DGI) has entered the Indian market via a joint venture (JV) with electric commercial vehicle startup EVage Motors. DGI is led by former Tesla director Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen.

The JV will be 60% owned by DGI and 40% by EVage and will see both parties invest respective to their ownership in the entity. In a conversation with Inc42, EVage’s founder and CEO Inderveer Singh said that the partnership will see the two companies set up a manufacturing plant in Chandigarh to produce DGI’s proprietary Pareta electric drive system. 

“While DGI will facilitate the manufacturing process with designing and manufacturing expertise, EVage will give the JV an Indian access to penetrate the Indian market. The first batch of motors produced at the plant will be utilised by EVage’s vehicles and further produce will be sold to external customers,” he said. 

EVage, which was founded by Singh in 2014, supplies all-electric commercial vehicles to the delivery fleets of Indian logistics companies. It claims to support  India’s first native commercial EV platform via its Modular Miniature Manufacturing (Mcube) factory in Chandigarh. 

The factory currently produces one electric truck a day and has manufactured a total of more than 300 to date. Those trucks are servicing top FMCG, ecommerce and logistics companies throughout India, with top clients including Amazon, the startup said. Harnoor Kaur and Pulkit Srivastava also joined the company as cofounders later in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

DGI’s Bardenfleth-Hansen told Inc42 that the JV will not only allow the UK-based company to penetrate the growing Indian market but also establish its global manufacturing base in India. 

Bardenfleth-Hansen said that the company will be looking to export motors produced via the JV to other countries in Asia as well as Europe. He said that the current central regime’s bid to promote EV adoption in India prompted the company to enter the growing market. 

“The EV adoption in India is growing at a significant pace. In my observations of EV adoptions in other countries, B2C segments have traditionally driven EV adoptions. But, in India, the push is coming more from the B2B segment as the country is extremely fleet driven. The country also benefits from a leading manufacturing platform which will allow us to deploy our products at top speed and competitive costs,” he said. 

EVage last raised $28 Mn in seed funding from RedBlue Capital in 2022 to complete its production ready factory. 

With the in-house motor manufacturing capabilities resulting from the JV, Singh envisions vertical integration of the company’s EV stack. 

“We are aiming to leverage this tech for various platforms that will need electrification. We intend to increase the pace of EV transmission by making homegrown core tech components ready to be deployed in the EV marketplace via the JV,” cofounder Singh added. 

DGI’s flagship Pareta motor is a compact, cost-effective e-drive that the company claims to enable up to 30% more range as compared to conventional  motors, with 98.5% efficiency across the entire drive cycle. The factory will be developing three variants of the motor in the range of 1 kW to 3 kW which can be deployed in buses, trucks to smaller sized vehicles. The companies are eyeing to start manufacturing within a year.

Bardenfleth-Hansen joined the EV drivetrain manufacturer in 2023 after spending a decade working for Tesla in its business development function. DGI is an advanced research and development company focused on electric mobility and storage with a focus on sustainability and environmental considerations. 

DGI has roped Pierre Pellerey as a consultant for its India business along with a team of former Tesla managers and engineers. Pellerey brings over 15 years of experience in motor design: his work has been key to the development of the Tesla Model 3, Model Y, and Model S Plaid, as well as Dyson’s flagship V10 motor. 

The JV announcement comes at a time when the Indian EV ecosystem continues to make big strides. For instance, registrations of electric two-wheelers in the country crossed the 1 Lakh mark for the first time in a month in March. 

This comes on the back of Centre’s push to promote EV adoption in the country. The union government recently launched an INR 500 Cr scheme, the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme 2024, to promote electric mobility from April 1. The new scheme will be in place till the end of July this year. 

Further, Indian authorities are also working to establish a task force to create a roadmap for the electric vehicle (EV) industry.