Page 43 - ETP-April-May2020

EMOBILITY

able to create new and quality prod-
ucts. You need to provide a nation- “TODAY, I AM HAPPY TO SHARE THAT WE HAVE
wide dealer network. ALMOST HUNDRED PERCENT LOCAL CONTENT.
So, while we are a pureplay EV IT’S ONLY ABOUT FIVE PERCENT THAT WE ARE
start-up, we also have the ability IMPORTING IN THE COUNTRY. OTHER THAN THE
to scale up in terms of experience, BATTERY CELLS, EVERYTHING IS PRETTY MUCH
manufacturing, brand, linkages in LOCALISED IN OUR ELECTRIC THREE WHEELERS.”
the ecosystem and so on. I think that
is our USP that we have the best of
both the worlds and we are in a very is what we have zeroed in on as the cause a three-wheeler runs in a cer-
high growth sector, which is a very future of automotive. tain periphery. The route is known.
unique opportunity. It’s typically used for the mile con-
Tell me something about your nectivity. A rickshawalla doesn’t
Why did you choose this segment? products. want a vehicle that can travel at
Kinetic Green is all about green mo- Let me tell you that we began our the speed of 200 km/h from Pune
bility and the current focus in elec- company with two products. Golf to Mumbai. He’s happy as long as
tric vehicles, but the idea is to pro- carts and three wheelers. Golf carts you’re giving him a decent range and
vide green mobility to the masses. are used for tourism, on golf courses, decent speed along with low running
The vision is to provide green mo- in the hospitality industry, in farm cost. He is happy as long as he is able
bility for millions. We selected this houses, in corporate campuses. We to make decent money out of it. And
sector because when we were coming began with this because we wanted the passenger sitting in the vehicle
out of the two-wheeler JV, we were to understand the technology of also wants a ride at a very affordable
looking for new areas which would electric vehicles. price. The electric three wheeler is
become the future of automotive Then, we zeroed in on three able to provide this without putting
technology. And electric technology wheelers as the next area of focus be- a stress on the environment. So, you
are able to provide green transport
It’s all about the battery and you are able to convince the
stakeholders to give support to this
new technology. It’s a win-win-win
Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions situation. It’s affordable, it supports
Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) have employment and it is non-polluting
launched the “e-Drive” initiative. Accordingly, a range of electric public transport.
three wheelers, specially designed for facilitating swappable So, looking at this sector, we
battery and a 2-minute battery swap will be deployed by Kinetic started developing a product range.
Green and BPCL. The solution has already been implemented And I am happy to say that we made
on a fleet of Kinetic Green E3W at Kochi and Lucknow. Due the first three wheeler maker in 2016
to separation of battery from the EV, initial EV cost is halved when there was no supply chain in
and brought below price of ICE counterparts. Range Anxiety the country. It had seventy percent
is eliminated as drivers need not worry about range anymore, import content. Today, I am happy
and they can always swap their battery for a new one, if they to share that we have almost hundred
need to go longer distance. Re-charging time is eliminated as percent local content. It’s only about
battery swapping takes only two minutes. The alliance facilitates five percent that we are importing in
a convenient battery network as BPCL can leverage its existing the country. Other than the battery
12,000 gas stations to erect the battery swapping stations. cells, everything is pretty much lo-
According to Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Founder and CEO, Kinetic calised in our electric three wheelers.
Green Energy and Power Solutions Ltd.: “This solution reduces When the government came up with
upfront cost of EV by 50 percent, and customers never have to the FAME II policy with focus on The Economic Times POLYMERS | April-May 2020
worry about battery charging and replacement. Kinetic and BPCL high level of localisation, from day
have developed the solution in association with IIT Chennai for a one we were following it.
comprehensive IOT based system, a lock smart battery with VBCC Our products have our own de-
protocol for charging, and host of safety features. The system sign, our own design registrations
monitors the battery and station, which are IoT enabled and linked and our own IPs. We are a self-re-
to an app. liant company in that sense. While
designing the vehicle, we have fo-

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