iTEC India sees industry experts point the way forward for India’s EV Vision 2030

The third edition of iTEC India, held in Bangalore, saw a successful closure with over 1,000 delegates in attendance. The event, which was held in Sheraton Grand, Whitefield, from December 17-19, was one of the largest conferences on transportation electrification in India.

Focusing on the theme of ‘E-Mobility Solutions for the Community’, iTEC India 2019 saw over 150 technical paper presentations on topics such as Challenges to meet Vision 2030, Power Electronics, EV Architecture & Charging, Component Optimisation, Battery Management System and Policies regarding EVs, electrification of heavy-duty vehicles and Smart Materials.

Dr Pawan Goenka, Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra, in a televised address, said: "iTEC India comes at a very opportune time, when we are planning rapid adoption of battery operated electric vehicles. It comes at a critical time when everyone - governments, thought leaders, industry experts, mobility service providers and end users - need to come together to ideate and innovate on the best way to move ahead. The government of India has put in place several initiatives meant to boost the growth of EVs in India. From an industry point of view, collaborative research, idea sharing and manpower skilling will be the key elements of future growth. So, what is the role of iTEC India in enabling EV growth in India? iTEC India provides us a platform to come together, look back at what has been done so far and more importantly what more needs to be done and how we can progress on that part. Our theme for 2019 is 'E-Mobility for the Community'. In all fairness, communities have to be at the centre of our electrification drive. The needs of the community are what we need to keep in mind and address when we roll out our vehicles, services or the infrastructure required. A community-first approach will go a long way towards rapid adoption of EVs and e-mobility."

The conference included three Plenary Sessions with eminent industry members such as P.K. Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM; Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, ARAI; Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IIT Madras; Matthias Brendel, Global Vice President, Electrification, AVL; Dr. Zed Tang, Global Solution Architect, ANSYS; Dr. Arunkumar Sampath, Chief Engineer and Head Innovation, Mahindra Electric; Dr. Tomy Sebastian, IPP, IEEE IAS; Steven Dom, Automotive Solution Manager, Siemens PLM, Belgium; Greg Harris, Global Leader for Electrification, HORIBA MIRA, Germany; C.P Vyas, President-Electrification Business, ABB India; Martin Murray, CTO, Mahindra Electric; and Guillaume Gerondeau - Vice-President Global Dassault Systems, Tokyo;

Two Leadership Forums were held on Day 2 and Day 3. The first forum focused on the topic ‘Electric Vehicle - Boon or Bane for the automotive industry?' with panelists such as Karthik Ganesan, Head of EV Marketing and Solutions Design, Ashok Leyland; Vikram Gulati, Country Head & VP, Toyota Kirloskar Motor; Anurag Garg, Country Head Powertrain India, Vitesco Technologies; Raghav Gulur VP& Head, ZF India; Sunil Motwani, Industry Director, Mathworks; Sridhar Dharmarajan, M.D, Hexagon and was moderated by Sumantra Barooah, Executive Editor, Autocar Professional.

The second forum focused on 'Sustainable mobility solutions - Affordable Technology enablers' with panelists Tarun Aggarwal, Vice-President, Electrical, xEV and Connected Systems, MSIL; Pavan Kumar, Senior V.P-Global Indirect Business, Altair Engineering; Prof. Ashwin Khambadkone, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore; Mahesh Hariharan, M.D, Baghirathi Solutions; Dr. Jabez Dhinagar, Senior Vice-President, TVS Motor Co; Vijay Mathew, Co-Founder, Integrated Transport  Services - Auroville Consulting and was moderated by D D Sarmah, Editor, Auto Tech Review.

The exposition featured 25 stalls from companies like AVL, Mahindra Electric, Valeo, Ansys, Dassault Systemes and others who showcased pioneering, cutting-edge solutions for e-mobility.

“India needs affordable EV solutions for mass transportation. We need to create local solutions with global technology. India has the most shared mobility if we look at three wheelers and by 2040 we need to reach 50% of all mobility to shared mobility,” said Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric Mobility Limited.

“Complexities give us the opportunity to innovate. From that perspective, iTEC India 2019 gave us the opportunity to discuss the complexities and address the challenges in the eMobility landscape. The ‘eMobility’ that we know, also needs to be changed, we need to move towards ‘WeMobility’,” Dr. Bala Bharadvaj, MD, Boeing India Engineering & Technology Centre and President SAE India said on the occasion.

“Overall, the inaugural session and the presentations from industry stalwarts were well accepted by the audience. Over 600 delegates across various automotive organizations came for the event on Day 1. The stalls witnessed enormous energy and technical discussions,” remarked Girish Ramaswamy, Head of Engineering - Engine & Drivetrain Systems, Vitesco Technologies.
 
iTEC Hackathon
This year’s edition included the ‘iTEC Hackathon’ for the first time, focusing on six problem statements exploring last-mile connectivity, battery technology and shared mobility. The hackathon intended to provide a platform for people to ideate for innovative solutions for India-specific e-Mobility problems. Ten teams were shortlisted from over 100 teams, competing for a cash prize of Rs 100,000 and Rs 50,000.

‘Team Praxians’ from Government Technical College, Coimbatore were the winners of the Hackathon and ‘Safety First’ from Mahindra Electric were the runners up. The winners and the runner up team were also given a chance to present at the iTEC conference to an audience of more than 600 people on the 3rd day of the conference.

iTEC Ride & Drive
iTEC India also included a ‘Ride & Drive’ session, showcasing a 48V hybrid engine developed by global supplier Valeo, which caught the attention of many delegates at the conference