VDMA India Symposium on Electric Mobility

Indian automotive industry is the fifth largest in the world and is slated to be the third largest by 2030. Catering to this vast domestic market, reliance on the conventional modes of fuel intensive mobility will not be sustainable Hence by making the shift towards electric vehicles (EVs), India stands to benefit on many fronts. India has been astute about the increased utility of electric vehicles and the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) I and II schemes, being a testament that are aimed at promoting the adoption of electric vehicles and creating a robust EV charging infrastructure.

In the light of this burgeoning potential, VDMA has creating a comprehensive awareness on the emerging Technology trends in Electric Mobility and its manufacturing competitiveness. VDMA India together with our esteemed partners, BENDER, CADFEM, FESTO, HARTING, INFINEON, SCHAEFFLER, WEISS and ZWICK ROELL conducted the “Electric Mobility – Disrupting Technology trends in the Transportation Industry” at Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport in Delhi on 17-Nov 2021 and LE ROYAL MERIDIEN Chennai, on 19-Nov 2021 respectively.

At Delhi on 17^th Nov 2021, The event organized by VDMA India, started off by the traditional Lamp lighting by the chief guest Dr. Steffen Koch Head of Department for Economics & Global Affairs EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY and Guest of Honour B. B. Gupta President Strategy & Business Planning JBM GROUP in Delhi

In Chennai on 19^th Nov 2021, the event commenced lighting of the lamp by Chief Guest Ms. Karin Stoll, Consul General, German Consulate, Chennai and Mr.Kaniappan P, Managing Director, WABCO India Guest of Honor at the Chennai.

The welcome address at both the locations of Delhi and Chennai was given by Mr. Rajesh Nath, Managing Director, VDMA India presenting the importance of the EV industry in the coming future and he also gave  a brief update on the policy side by the Indian and few state governments incentives programmes for EV. He gave an update on PLI and other Schemes by various government for the betterment of the EV Industry.

After that, in Delhi, we had the update on Indo-German Trade by Dr. Steffen Koch, Head of Department for Economics & Global Affairs, EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, NEW DELHI. The speech by Guest of Honor, was given by Mr. Gupta, President – Strategy & Business Planning, JBM GROUP  was regarding the Accelerated Growth of the Electric Mobility Technological Ecosystem in India.

In Chennai we had Ms. Stoll, Consul General, German Consulate, Chennai, explaining the current vaccination drives in Germany and on the current raising cases of Covid-19 in Germany. After this we had Mr. Kaniappan P, Managing Director, WABO India, speaking about the Accelerated Growth of the Electric Mobility Technological Ecosystem in India. The special address from the Guest of Honor, which set the stage for the speakers, and the participants to understand the present situation in the subcontinent on the E.-Mobility growth

The presentations from the partners were covered the on the vehicle and off the vehicle solutions like automations in the plant by the German Partners.  In the two locations, we had divided the presentation into two sessions, Technical Session 1 before Lunch and Technical Session 2, after Lunch

In these Technical presentations, e BENDER presented on the topic  Electrical Safety Solution for E-Mobility, which was explained by Mr Washim Ahamed, Senior Manager – Sales & Marketing in Delhi on the vast portfolio in the Battery Management System and Charging infrastructure and the same presentation was given by  by Mr. Raghavendra Sajjan, Senior Manager – Sales & Marketing in Chennai.

After that we had a presentation from CADFEM Regarding the Simulation and Analysis in the EV’s which can reduce 50% of testing and modeling time in production and R&D cycle. The presentation on Computational modeling to step up e-mobility to realize efficient, reliable Power trains was presented by Mr Santhosh Manepally, Technology Specialist at both the locations that helped the audience to understand the uses and current upgrades in the simulation software’s in the EV Segment.

The presentation of Mr. Vijay Menon, Sr. Business Development Manager of Festo included the automation side in the manufacturing of the EV with the explanation of Opportunities for New Manufacturing Automation benchmarks. He spoke about the current and upcoming trends in the Automation comparing India to the global standards of the automation. He stated that the new technology in automation is to be integrated for the most effective process on the shop floor.

Solutions from HARTING were presented by Mr. Shashank Narayan, Market Manager – E Mobility who explained his presentation on Charging Infrastructure ecosystem for growing Electric Mobility. The connectivity solution being the one of the main drawback in India for more faster phase in the EV. He expressed his views that only when consumers see an extensive network of public charging stations will they consider EVs a feasible mobility solution. Thus, a reliable and accessible network of public chargers is imminent.

The Presentation on Trends & Developments in E-Mobility by Mr. Narendra Walvekar, Sr Manager – Automotive Sales in Delhi, and by Mr. Srinivasan Parthasarathy, Sr Manager – Automotive Sales of INFINEON in Chennai gave a chance to look up to the semiconductor and the electronics side of the EV game explaining the Microprocessor and the power electronics which goes into the vehicle. The upcoming technology from on the cooling and Silkicon Carbide that enables better power semiconductors had been the interesting development on the Battery management Systems for the coming future.

Followed by this we had the Presentation on Automation in Electric Mobility Ecosystem by Mr. Franz Oebels, Director Global Sales/Key Accounts, Market Segments & Technology, WEISS AUTOMATION explained the Subsystem for body parts assembly and the predictive maintaince application He also the presented  the assembly line applications for th battery packs and the motor drives.

The presentation on Mechanical testing solutions for e-mobility by Mr. Ashim Jyoti Sharma, Associate General Manager in Delhi and by Mr. Girish Sharma, Automotive Industry Specialist in Chennai from ZWICK ROELL, introducing the testing solutions for the E.Mobility applications and explaining the importance of testing in Lion Battery, Fuel cell’s and different equipments that goes into the EV.

The above presentations by the Partner organizations were at both the cities of Delhi and Chennai on the Electric Mobility ecosystem.

The Presentation on Electrification Outlook for Indian Auto Industry was given by Mr. Sanjeev Saxena, President – Automotive, SCHAEFFLER in Delhi symposium. He explained the importance of the Hybrid & Electric Drive trains, and the future products that would be developed for the better transmission system in the upcoming models of the Electric Vehicles He also explained regarding the carbon neutrality and methods and process of achieving carbon neutrality. Mr. Saxena said that the IC engine and the EV market are going to have their own market spaces and he further explained that the IC/Combustion engine Market would not be significantly affected by the EV in Passenger Vehicles in the coming decade.

After the daylong presentations, participants spread across the different segments in the EV Ecosystem took their Question and answers session followed by the concluding remarks by Mr. Rajesh Nath in the Delhi, and by Mr.S.Manohar, Regional Head South, VDMA India in the Chennai symposium.