KPIT Tech works on low-cost EV infrastructure for emerging markets.

Electric vehicles have been around for quite some time now. But they haven’t yet reached a critical mass, especially in India. A major reason for that is the significantly higher cost compared to vehicles with internal combustion engines. KPIT Technologies is working on projects aimed at bridging the price gap. “I believe we Indians are innovative by nature. We know how to find our solutions against a difficult problem,” says Ravi Pandit, founder and chairman, KPIT Technologies.

The KPIT team is busy developing solutions that could lead to more efficient battery-powered or fuel-cell powered electric vehicles for use in India and other similar markets. One solution it is working on is a low-cost version of the concentrated photo-voltaic technology which will charge the vehicle while parked, “but not at an exorbitant cost”. The target for the team is to reduce the payback period of cost in the technology from around eight years to 2-3 years.

The relatively long recharging process of an electric vehicle (EV), especially in India, and the small network of charging points are also hurdles for its mass acceptance. That’s where KPIT sees opportunity and wants to showcase some innovative solutions. It is working on developing fast-charging stations in two versions – wired and wire-free.

The other areas that the company is at advanced stages of development are super capacitors and hydrogen fuel cell. Pandit feels that the automobile industry will have to adopt electric vehicles seriously. But there is a growing debate on which is a more sustainable source of energy for these EVs – battery or fuel-cell. KPIT is working on both. “We are also working on hydrogen fuel cell (technology),” says Pandit. It seems the team at KPIT has got its hands full, especially in the electric mobility area (around 20 patents filed for tech in the EV space). That perhaps explains why Pandit isn’t in a hurry to dip into Tesla’s patent pool, which has been opened up for the EV world. “We have made significant investment in the creation of relevant IP,” he says. The IPs that KIPT has invested majorly are aimed to address the mass market, which is a contrast to Tesla’s market space.

The new projects will complement KPIT’s Revolo – a to-be-launched plug-and-play hybrid system. The company plans to eventually have a series of solutions that help reduce energy cost by Rs 7,000-8,000 to 100 percent. If all projects proceed as planned, they will be ready over the next year or so.  The first of them is expected to be ready by October 2014.

Photograph: KPIT’s Revolo plug-and-play hybrid system is part of the company’s planned spectrum of green solutions for vehicle manufacturers and users.