Motor + Battery not = Electric Two Wheeler
Srinivasa Moorthy S A
Chief of Strategy Zettaone Technologies Private Limited, Technology Evangelist, SME for Automotive Electronics, EVs and ESDM
I have been watching EV two wheeler segment more as a designer for a long time (5-6 years). With the increase in traction and tax benefits I see this market ripe for growth but I have a few observations (purely mine from my experience) and I am worried how this will pane out. Read on;
- Most two wheeler "manufacturers" today baring a few just put a motor+battery together on a frame and sell it as a scooter. I have a bad experience a EV scooter from leading south based "Cycle Vendor" sold a piece of scrap for 35K and disappeared from the market within 18 months leaving the buyers high and dry. When I called them their MD answered me saying since it is not profitable they stopped little he realised that this has damaged their brand permanently.
- All the so called battery manufacturers ( they actually assemble the cells for the voltage & current you need!) have no idea that a Lithium Ion battery configuration needs a custom charging for performance. Ask them for high speed chargers most of them have no idea! or they will give a you Chinese make whose performance you have no idea.
- Successful EV two wheeler needs a matched Motor, Motor controller and battery and most of the current vendors have no idea how to get that!
- Most vendors throw impressive performance figures at you only under fully charged battery condition. Ask them how the vehicle will perform when the battery is 80% or 50% of its capacity silence will be the answer. In fact, this is a virgin area for innovation with components like advanced "Super Capacitors" being available at low cost.
- ManyEV two wheelers can't give you torque characteristics of the motor under different load conditions. Recently I was working with a team to develop a test jig for testing a EV cycle and I realised how difficult is to develop a test jig for different torque values and how difficult to replicate the road conditions. This can be a danger zone going forward and will make or break EV makers
PS: My personal observation: Most founders of EV startups seem to be Industrial Designers and mechanical engineers but hardly any electrical or power electronics engineers who understand the issues with EV systems.
The reason why I wrote this piece is that with the traction in EV two wheeler market ( Most businesses which use 2 Wheelers for their last mile are actively looking for EVs and each of them have specific requirement) these issues I discussed can get us back to the place where we started unless these issued are addressed and resolved!
Chief of Strategy Zettaone Technologies Private Limited, Technology Evangelist, SME for Automotive Electronics, EVs and ESDM
5 年Unlike other businesses I am shocked to see EV market full of "TRADERS". In fact few years back CFL bulbs market got a similar treatment with traders selling substandard CFL bulb destroying the market. LED Lights also went though this but with local manufacturing it is stabilising.? To tell you frankly I am preview to the way large 2 wheeler guys are thinking and they don't want to leave their comfort zone of IC engines. May be some one like Tesla should shake the market to get the large guys into action!
At this stage of the EV evolution, it is good to see bigger companies with strong engineering stepping in. There are so many aspects to it, as a potential buyer I would rather wait a few years to see robust products and service too