Being an entrepreneur in a new sector like electric vehicle is a challenge of not just funding but also right manpower, said P Bala, co-founder and CTO, Ampere Vehicles.
The company has designed electric vehicles, including cycles, scooters and vehicles for garbage collection. “These projects kept us alive,” he said addressing a public session on ‘Future of urban mobility’ on the occasion of CII Chennai Zone Annual Day – 2017-18.
“ We hope the government will address various issues of the electric vehicle industry soon,” he said.
It should not be assumed people would buy electric vehicle for environment concerns. To the customers operational cost is the only consideration, he said.
No company will make parts for small companies. Whether we like it or not, we are at the mercy of Chinese companies. , he said.
On manpower, Bala said, the top engineers get jobs in multinational companies and the next layer in top Indian companies. “We need to provide lots of training to help us in innovation. This is a major issue,” he said.
BC Datta, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Hyundai Motor India, there is no standard at present on batteries that are being used in electric vehicles. At present, there are three different categories - Chinese, European and Japan. Government, after lots of debates with the industry, has almost decided that European standard will be accepted.
On charging infrastructure, Datta said and the government is seriously looking at this issue, and could possibly allow anybody can have charging points with both points of fast charging and different capacities, he said.