Ashok Leyland, SUN Mobility enter alliance for e-vehicles

Vinod K Dasari, CEO-MD, Ashok Leyland, said it would take about 12 to 18 months’ time for the first prototype to be ready and the alliance seeks to use the new ‘swap and charge’ battery technology that would increase operating efficiencies. The internal schedule is to get the prototype ready by January 2018.

As of now, the contours of this alliance are yet to shape into a joint venture. “We have not created any legal entity as such,” he said, noting that this “global partnership” would initially start with STUs or the state transport undertaking segment for vehicles in the city. Confirming that there were three trial orders on hand to be executed, Dasari said the onus has always been to “manufacture only those products” that it would design and only design those vehicles that would differentiate the commercial vehicles major from competition.

Chetan Maini, Vice Chairman, Sun Mobility – a 50:50 joint venture between Virya Mobility 5.0 and Bengaluru-based SUN New Energy Systems, said this alliance is relevant in a scenario of higher acquisition cost of vehicles and the infrastructure issues with customers worried about faster re-fueling options. “We would like to provide a host of technologies that would give a leg up to customers adapting easily to smart batteries and recharging stations through our e-mobility solutions,” the reva founder said, adding the solutions designed in India were more relevant for the global market as Indian engineering thrived on frugal solutions.

Maini, with his over two decades of experience in e-mobility space, said the partnership is focused on providing solutions that would bring down the operating cost below diesel vehicles. Elaborating on this, Dasari said, on an average, a bus plies about 23 km before it comes to the depot and that was an opportunity for the swap and charge kind of solutions. The integration would make it possible for a quick interchange of batteries using this proprietary technology.

To a query on the earlier alliances that have fallen apart, the Ashok Leyland honcho said it is hopeful that the current one is “more fruitful than it turned out to be earlier... We have learnt lessons from the past.”

For now, Sun Mobility, through the exclusive tie-up, would set up the infrastructure that would establish battery charging and swapping stations. Maini said two core patents had been filed for the latest technology under use by both the partners. Though the battery cells would be imported, all the other elements be it the electronics or circuits and other components would be indigenously produced. Two facilities were being evaluated to enable integration of an efficient, pollution-free and cost-competitive solution for electric mobility.

Dasari also pointed out that the cost per battery had come down from $1500 to $200 in five years and this was in line with the 2030 electric vehicle vision that the Centre had drawn, wherein 340 million vehicles would be powered by 260 GW of solar renewable energy.