Page 97 - Electric Vehicles

EV ride-hailing startup BluSmart Mobility raises $42 mn from BP, others

Investors include BP Ventures, the investment arm of energy giant BP Plc that holds 20% equity

Govt to roll out mandatory quality standards for drones, electric vehicles

Standards for drones that are used extensively in the agriculture space for soil analysis, irrigation, crop mapping and pest management have already been formulated

After Ola, three others to repay customers for 'off-board charger'

All the three electric two-wheeler manufacturers have written to the ministry of heavy industries on Wednesday expressing their willingness to repay customers

Hero MotoCorp to bump up presence of VIDA V1 e-scooter to 100 cities

Hero MotoCorp on Wednesday said it will scale up the presence of its electric scooter range under the VIDA brand to 100 cities this year. The company, which also announced a cut of around Rs 20,000 in the prices of VIDA V1 Plus and VIDA V1 Pro scooters, said it will utilise its existing dealer network to rapidly scale up electric vehicle operations across the country. "In line with our vision to democratise green mobility and expedite the growth of the electric vehicle (EV) category, we are set for a rapid expansion of VIDA across the country," Hero MotoCorp Head Emerging Mobility Business Unit Swadesh Srivastava said in a regulatory filing. The company will utilise the existing network strength of Hero MotoCorp to expand operations to 100 cities, he added. It has already commenced the expansion plan with eight new cities Pune, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Nasik, Hyderabad, Chennai, Calicut and Kochi. VIDA brand is currently present in Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Delhi aided by nearly 300 char

EV financing platform Ohm raises Rs 3 cr in funding led by Antler India

Company will use the money on technology platform connecting EV players and financial institutions

Zypp Electric plans to deploy 10,000 e-scooters in Bengaluru under 2 months

Electric mobility startup Zypp Electric on Tuesday announced its plan to deploy as many as 10,000 electric scooters in Bengaluru and said 2,000 e-scooters are already on roads. The remaining 8,000 of these vehicles will be deployed over the next two months, Zypp Electric said. The move is part of the company's recently announced plan to extend services to 30 cities in the country and expand its fleet size to 2-lakh e-scooters by 2025. At the same time, the company said, it has on boarded 2,000 delivery executives in the capital city of Karnataka and it is looking to hire over 5,000 more within the next two months. The fresh hiring is to facilitate efficient last-mile delivery, and boost employment opportunities in the gig economy, it added. Zypp said it also plans to install over 100 Gorogro battery swapping stations at its Bengaluru hubs in the next 12-18 months, which is expected to significantly boost the city's EV ecosystem. "We have already deployed 2,000 e-scooters in Benga

Chinese EV brands expand to global markets as they offer lower prices

Osamu Furukawa has driven lots of Japanese cars for his business converting classic gasoline-powered models to electric. But his favorite ride is an import: A battery-powered SUV from China's BYD Auto. BYD Auto is part of a wave of Chinese electric car exporters that are starting to compete with Western and Japanese brands in their home markets. They bring fast-developing technology and low prices that Tesla Inc.'s chief financial officer says are scary. Furukawa said he ordered an ATTO 3 when it went on sale Jan. 31, for its user-friendly features and appealing price of 4.4 million yen ($33,000) or about one-quarter less than a Tesla. It's perfect, Furukawa said in his office in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo. Other ambitious Chinese EV exporters include NIO, Geely Group's Zeekr and Ora, a unit of SUV maker Great Wall Motors. Some compete on price. Others emphasize performance and features, putting pressure on Western and Japanese premium brands. NIO Inc., which has persuaded buy

FAME and fortune

Controversy highlights hazards of subsidy-led manufacturing

Facing the heat: Govt slaps Rs 249-crore fine on Hero Electric, Okinawa

Hero Electric claimed that its vehicles were fully in compliance with the FAME certification in the subject period

Electric two-wheeler sales skid by nearly a fourth in April: VAHAN data

Govt's punitive action leads to a big dent in registrations

Centre extends EV battery safety certification deadline by 6 months

The certification was compulsory for manufacturers from April 1, 2023, if they wanted subsidies under various EV-promotion schemes

Mahindra and Mahindra gears up for EV play, niche e-farm products

M&M aims to make 200,000 EVs a year around 2027

Taiwanese firm Gogoro eyes India as hub for making electric two-wheelers

The top 50 cities where Gogoro wants to operate account for 25 per cent of all the two wheelers - around 60 million

Subsidies corrupt decision-making processes: Bajaj Auto executive director

Some Indian electric vehicle (EV) makers are facing a probe for alleged non-compliance with the standards required to be eligible for FAME-II subsidies because of insufficient domestic value addition

Bajaj Auto to boost Chetak's production to 10,000 units a month by June

Bajaj Auto Ltd is ramping up production of its electric scooter Chetak to touch around 10,000 units a month by June, having overcome supply chain constraints as it gradually expands the sales network of the brand, according to a senior company official. The company plans to have around 150 exclusive outlets for the Chetak electric scooter by September, and is taking a calibrated expansion keeping in mind the uncertainty over the extension of FAME II scheme for promotion of electric vehicles beyond this fiscal. "We are trying to get to 10,000 (units) by June. It is a supply chain issue," Bajaj Auto Executive Director Rakesh Sharma said here on the sidelines of opening of an exclusive Chetak showroom. The company has reached 5,000 units at present and next month, it will try to get to 7,000 units, he said, adding after that Bajaj Auto would assess how the demand is coming to plan future production roadmap. Sharma said the company had faced problems earlier due to over dependence on .

FAME 3.0: Centre will take a call only if funds in surplus, say officials

Concerns regarding strict domestic value addition (DVA) clauses in the scheme have been addressed in the SOPs

IOCL petrol pumps to sell vehicle batteries in new marketing push

IOCL's 'tyre battery accessories' marketing concept aims to make its 36,000 pumps one stop shop for vehicle owners.

Automaker Stellantis to offer buyouts amid electric vehicle transition

Another automaker is trying to cut its workforce to trim expenses and stay competitive as the industry makes the long and costly transition to electric vehicles. Stellantis on Wednesday said it's offering buyouts to groups of white-collar and unionized employees in the U.S., as well as hourly workers in Canada. The cuts are in response to today's increasingly competitive global market conditions and the necessary shift to electrification, the company said in a prepared statement. Stellantis said it's looking to reduce its hourly workforce by about 3,500, but wouldn't say how many salaried employees it's targeting. The company has about 56,000 workers in the U.S., and about 33,000 of them could get the offers. Of those, 31,000 are blue-collar workers and 2,500 salaried employees. Another 8,000 union workers in Canada also will get offers, the company said. Stellantis, formed in the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA Groupe, says in a statement that it's reviewing its North .

MG Motor unveils India's cheapest e-car Comet EV starting from Rs 7.98 lakh

The two-door Comet EV offers a range of 230 kilometers on a single charge, while Tata's four-door Tiago EV has a range of 250-315 km

Looking for long-term partner for EV biz: M&M exec director & CEO Jejurikar

We had already re-engineered our ICE portfolio to meet the norms. We needed to sell a small number of EVs to meet the target for 2022-23, says Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director, M&M