Mention
BMS firms helping in the faster adoption of electric vehiclesedit
With the Indian government pushing for faster adoption of electric vehicles in the country and announcing impactful policies to give an impetus towards the same, automotive manufacturers in India are moving towards making affordable and efficient electric vehicles in India. But one of the most important aspects of this transition is the performance of electric batteries. This can only be achieved if the manufacturers were able to collect data and analyze it to understand the battery life.
Industry
Lost on the way: Why Bengaluru’s e-bus project remains a non-starteredit
The delay was caused primarily due to former transport minister DC Thammanna’s insistence that buses be purchased and not leased. BMTC lost the Centre’s Rs 75-crore subsidy as the deadline for phase 1 of FAME India (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India) scheme by the department of heavy industry, expired on March 31, 2019. Thammanna cancelled tender for 80 buses, citing loopholes and transferred several officials.
Substantive planning needed for introduction of electric busesedit
The ridership in Gurugaman, the city bus service, has been growing steadily. This is welcome news. The bus service will complete one year of operations next month. A couple of weeks ago, the ridership crossed over 50,000 passengers per day. Incidentally, this is more than double the ridership in Gurugram’s Metro rail system — the Rapid Metro.
Chennai gets its first electric public transport bus: More than 500 to follow across TNedit
In a move which is inclined towards reducing air pollution, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday unveiled a battery-powered electric air-conditioned bus that would be operated on specific routes by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation. Built by Hinduja Group flagship firm Ashok Leyland, the roll-out of the bus comes against the backdrop of the state government signed a memorandum of understanding with the London-based ‘C-40 Cities Climate Leadership Group” in March 2018.
Bhopal to deploy 400 EV charging points by year-endedit
India’s Bhopal will deploy 400 smart poles to enable charging points for electric vehicles (EV) by year end, according to the top official. “150 smart poles have already been installed while another 250 are expected to be completed by year-end and will have Wi-Fi hotspots, charging points for electrical vehicles, weather sensors street lights and signage,” Tarun Pithode, Bhopal’s District Collector and Smart City Chairman told ETTelecom.
Auto companies ride job losses to slow electric vehicle pushedit
The worst slowdown in the past two decades seems to have come as a blessing in disguise for the automotive industry. While the automakers were fighting against electric vehicles, which was given a major push in the Union Budget, the continued fall in automotive sales during June and July helped them in putting their case with more strength.
EESL to set up 1,000 EV charging stations, hopes to deploy 5,000 carsedit
State-run Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which was tasked with procuring 10,000 electric cars for government use, has said that it could procure and deploy only 1,500 cars largely because of the lack of charging stations. The company now plans to address this issue by setting up nearly 1,000 charging stations, and is confident of deploying around 5,000 cars for various government departments by next year.
Competition
KEL in talks with Toshiba for making lithium ion batteriesedit
Kerala Electrical & Allied Engineering Co. Limited (KEL) is in discussion with Toshiba to manufacture fast charging lithium ion (li-ion)batteries for electrical vehicles. The Toshiba team from Japan visited the Mamala unit of KEL on Tuesday. “We are keen to collaborate with Toshiba to assemble li-ion batteries of different capacities for various types of electric vehicles, boats, etc. We have shown our facility to team and have also shown the vacant land available at the unit which is suitable for establishing electric battery assembling unit to the delegation.” said Shaji Varghese, MD of KEL
We had virtually zero sales for 4 months when govt suddenly altered EV policy, says Hero Electric CEOedit
As India drives its electric vehicle policy through a subsidy programme that encourages local production, its hasty implementation, frequent changes, and unavailability of finance for the vehicles have been weighing on the country’s EV industry.
International
Electric cars can’t cut UK carbon emissions while only the wealthy can afford to own oneedit
Analysis UK government efforts to offset carbon emissions via the adoption of electric cars were last week slammed by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. According to the panel’s report into the matter, almost 20,000 conventional cars would need to be removed from the road every week for the next 31 years, if the UK is to meet its goal of having “almost every car and van” be “zero emission” by 2050.
The average electric car in the US is getting cheaperedit
In June, conventional SUVs and light trucks were the most popular vehicles in America accounting for 70% of sales. They also got more expensive—the median retail price for all vehicles in the US was $36,600, an increase of 2% compared to last year.
Can power napping solve electric car charging challenge?edit
Automakers around the world are pushing hard for new networks that can charge electric cars fast. In Europe, some power companies and grid operators are testing whether it might be smarter and cheaper to move into the slow lane. A 15-month study of electric car charging behaviour in Germany has concluded that consumers can be persuaded to accept slow, overnight recharging that could help avoid brownouts from surges in electricity demand or costly upgrades to power grids.