With India having announced its ambitious intent to go all-electric by 2030, the automotive industry comprising vehicle manufacturers and component suppliers is also thinking electric. Now the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune, which is engaged in R&D in automotive engineering for industry, product design and development, has announced plans for setting up an E-Mobility Centre of Excellence.

ARAI, in collaboration with national and international organisations, has been pro-actively taking initiatives to address the challenges of e-mobility and formulation of different regulations specific to electric and hybrid electric vehicles.

The E-Mobility Centre of Excellence, located in Pune, will be equipped with an expansive range of facilities including battery emulator, motor test beds, battery test systems and hardware-in-loop (HIL) systems that will enable testing a range of vehicles from two-wheelers to buses.

Commenting on the new facility, Rashmi Urdhwareshe, director, ARAI, said, “The E-Mobility Centre of Excellence would be a one of its kind in India. It will have state-of-the-art facilities for development, evaluation, benchmarking, validation and certification testing of electric and hybrid electric vehicles, and related sub-systems and components. ARAI has envisaged this centre to be the facility which will be able to offer and cater to all services and meet the requirements of the automotive and ancillary industry in India, under a single roof. This will make ARAI a preferred solution provider in e-mobility.”

The e-mobility centre will be launched by Anant Geete, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, government by unveiling the corner stone during the valedictory function of ITEC India 2017 on December 15, 2017.

ITEC (International Transportation Electrification Conference) India 2017, being jointly organised by ARAI, SAE India and IEEE-IAS and to be held at the Westin, Pune from December 13-15, will act as a platform for all industry stakeholders to exchange ideas and work cohesively to achieve electrification of transportation.