Amidst a myriad of glittering events that are being hosted in Auto Expo 2020, the Society of Indian Mobile Manufacturers (SIAM) organised the first Global Electrification Mobility Summit (GEMS) on February 7-8, which saw participating of over 200 foreign and Indian delegates.

The two-days summit hosted three countries as ‘Guest Countries’ – France, Germany and Japan, wherein policy makers and industry experts provided their respective country’s objectives, policy framework around fuel choices including electrification.

The event was supported by industry associations from across the globe including Germany's VDA, Japan's JAMA and SMMT from the United Kingdom and industry associations from India including ACMA, CII, IEEMA and IESA.

Mahesh Babu, chairman, SIAM Electric Mobility Group and CEO, Mahindra Electric Mobility said: “The Summit is intended to create a discussion platform to bring everyone on board to embark on the journey of electrification in the country.”

Vinod Agarwal, treasurer, SIAM and MD & CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles said: “The Summit being held in conjunction with Auto Expo at a common venue is a live demonstrator of 'walk the talk' where the discussion on electrified vehicles are exhibited at the Auto Expo. However, let us be fair that various technologies are just mean to an end of achieving our national objectives”

The chief guest for the Summit, Arun Goel, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises said: “While I echo the sentiments of SIAM about the challenges for the industry, India has been playing a subordinate role up to an extent. We need to harness our talent pool to see how we build vehicles and solutions from the grounds-up. Electrification is an opportunity which auto industry in India can tap to become a true maker.”

Discussing the theme of India's electrification policy framework and market update, the Japanese delegation led by Takamasa Murakami, director, Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, government of Japan shared his views on the long-term electrification policies being implemented in Japan are supporting all electrified technologies, and going forward, how much of these policies can be helpful for India, if adopted.

The Germany session was led by Adam Mutwil, deputy director, Division Electric Mobility, Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Government of Germany said that policies regarding electrification of automobiles need to be internationally harmonising.

The French session was led by Patrick Pillon, Deputy Head of Regional Economic Service, French Embassy in India, which saw industry representative Venkatram Mamilapalle, Country CEO & MD, Renault India and Claude Cham, president, FIEV, (French Vehicle Equipment Industries Association) share their views on the theme of ‘France, India and Electric Mobility- Vision and Perspectives’. They further discussed about partnership of trust between industry and government remains the essence. The road ahead will need full conviction, 100% commitment and total perseverance.

Start-up to scale-up
The second day of the summit continued the power packed thematic panels such as global policy stakeholders from UK, Germany and India. Stalwarts of automotive CXOs talked about the future roadmap to electrification. In a panel discussion, Pravin Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry said “our country is amongst top few nations who had commenced on the journey of electrification since 2013 by way of launching national mission on electric mobility. We feel proud and happy to see that electric mobility is taking its shape. However, it would be a journey and evolution would happen.”

Industry captains such as Rakesh Sharma, executive director, Bajaj Auto; Vikram Kasbekar, CTO and ED, Operations, Hero MotoCorp;  C V Raman, senior executive director, Maruti Suzuki India; Vikram Gulati, senior vice-president, Toyota Kirloskar and Gaurav Gupta, chief commercial officer, MG Motors shared their views in the panel.

The Summit hosted upcoming and potent EV start-ups in India and discussed on the path towards Start-up to Scale-up . It demonstrated the fact that conventional vehicle manufacturers and upcoming start-ups are up and ready to create a vibrant ecosystem of electrified vehicles in a collaborative manner.

The first edition of the summit succeeded in its endeavour to create the platform to bring everyone on board to begin the journey of electrification in its true sense.