TATA MOTORS has been indulging in the business of automobile manufacturing since 1945. Mahindra and Mahindra have been developing vehicles for the country for the last 77 years. Bajaj Auto came into existence in the year 1945 and there are many such renowned companies involved in the manufacturing of internal combustion-based vehicles in our country.

The latest company involved in the business of automobile manufacturing was Hero Motocorp which came into existence with the name Hero Honda. Hero Honda started manufacturing automobiles in our country in the year 1984 with all these facts. Over the past 38-40 years not a single new automobile company has evolved in India which develops vehicles based on engines with Internal Combustion, this thing is happening not only in India. In Japan too, the last company which evolved as an automobile manufacturer was Honda which came into existence in the year 1946 the same goes for other countries as well believe me or not Jeep is the latest automobile manufacturing company in America that came into operation in the year 194. There is a thing common to all automobile manufacturing countries which manufacture ample amounts of vehicles for the past 50-70 years. No new company has come into existence that manufactures vehicles based on ICE Engines. And there are some solid reasons behind this fact.

A new trend that is linked to Electric Vehicles

But we all can experience a new trend that is linked to Electric Vehicles. On one side, no new ICE-based vehicle manufacturer could be observed for the past many years in the whole world. On the other side, many new EV manufacturing brands are evolving. Especially Electric Scooters, Newer brands are based in such countries which evolved as a dark horse. But if I get specific to India. The evolution of EV manufacturers in India is as prominent as the foreign countries or maybe manifolds more than the foreign countries. India has evolved as the epicenter of two-wheeler EV manufacturers and there is an estimation that there are 25-30 such two-wheeler EV manufacturers in India, An estimate is done because there are many two-wheeler EV manufacturers which are developing EVs on a very small scale. Not much information is available about these companies on the Internet. Neither of their websites gives any solid information. Now the point to note is how does this happen? Because for the past many years, no new conventional automobile manufacturer has evolved in our country. 

Whereas many new EV manufacturers have come into existence in the past 5-10 years in India. There are two possible answers to this question the first answer is the manufacturing of EVs is very simpler than the manufacturing of ICE Engine based vehicles. And the second answer is, Chinese Imports it can be observed in India that many EV manufacturers are developing their EV products which are derived from Chinese EVs, therefore, you would get to know this in the future.

Rebaging the Chinese EVs

Which of the EV manufacturers is rebadging the Chinese EVs and how could the Chinese brands capture the Indian EV market through such activities Which happened earlier in the Indian Smartphone Market you would also get to know about the EV manufacturers which are fully developing EVs in India on their own. Before getting specific to India We should understand, Why is the manufacturing of EVs very simple than the manufacturing of an IC Engine based vehicle?

Due to this, the Indian EV market has been crowded with many new brands. Many of you must be aware of the fact that a conventional two-wheeler or four-wheeler consists of pistons in its Engine's moves due to controlled combustion. But this alone is not enough for the operation of a car. This vertical motion is converted into rotational motion through the crankshaft and then the rotation of the wheels is done through many rotating parts in between. For the operation of an ICE Engine based vehicle, many things rotate like gears, clutch, flywheel, and many types of pulleys facilitate the operation of the air conditioning system and liquid cooling system of a car timing chains, etc.

Complexities between Convention ICE Engine and Electric Vehicles

A conventional car consists of around 200 parts that facilitate the smooth operation of a car all the parts which have mentioned differ from Engine to Engine. The size of these parts also depends on the size of the car. If any part is not of the appropriate shape or size then the car would not run smoothly, therefore, the manufacturing of any ICE Engine based vehicle requires a lot of Research and Development. 

A two-wheeler does not have as many parts as a four-wheeler. But still, its manufacturing is quite challenging due to the complexity of the manufacturing of ICE Engine-based vehicles. We observed that when Indian automobile manufacturers started manufacturing vehicles then either they used to outsource the Engines or they used to develop the Engine in collaboration with foreign countries. "Hero-Honda" Due to this complexity in the manufacturing of ICE Engine based vehicles, No new conventional automobile company has evolved not only in India but the whole world for the past many years. 

While the operation of EVs requires the use of very less key components and if we get specific to the Electric Two-Wheelers, Then the amount of components is only around 5 to 7 like motors, controllers, batteries, etc.

Import of Batteries from China, Korea, or Japan

The motors are the parts of EVs that move in actuality the manufacturing of EVs seems to be very simple from this perspective. Comparatively, the manufacturing of EVs is very simple but the manufacturing of one component is still very complex and that is battery cells therefore almost every Indian two-wheeler EV manufacturer imports battery cells from China, Korea, or Japan. But if we get specific to the Indian EV storm then the role of innovation and Research and Development in India is not as prominent as that in China.

The Monopoly of China in Two Wheeler EVs

China has a monopoly in the manufacturing of two-wheeler EVs. China is producing almost 4 crore Electric Scooters per year. This huge amount of Electric Scooters, which are getting manufactured in China are not only sold in China but also in foreign countries. And this is done in two ways either the Chinese manufacturers sell their Electric Scooters with the original brand name or many OEMs in China produce these electric scooters in bulk and sell these Scooters in the wholesale market not only this, these OEMs do some changes to the power configuration and looks. As per the demand and then many foreign companies buy the knockdown form of these EVs from these Chinese OEMs and then these companies sell these EVs in their respective countries by assembling them with their own brand name and logo. A similar could be observed in India on a very large scale many new EV makers have evolved in India and many such people have jumped into the business of EVs.

Which do not belong to the manufacturing or tech field directly Like Evolet India is operated by defense veterans and many such small and unconventional named EV manufacturers are visible in India. Like Kabira Mobility, Komaki, Nij Automotive, Zelta, Etc many Chinese EVs are getting sold in India with the logo of Indian Brands and a very weird thing could also be observed in this and that is, many Indian EV manufacturers are rebadging only these four Chinese Electric Scooters. We found this thread from TEAM BHP in my research which claims that these 22-23 EV manufacturers are rebadging these four Chinese Electric Scooters. But I did not blindly trust this thread and tried to research it on my own and then I found that this fact was almost correct.

Many EV manufacturers are developing Scooters that look like these Scooters and the copied version of Vespa is visible on many brands. One could assume that the brands which are doing so are very small companies with the least expectations. Many EV manufacturers do not have a team of more than 50 people. But what about the big bulls? According to a report from July 2022, these are the top 10 Electric Scooters manufacturers in India.

The downfall of Micromax and the rise of Revolt

But unfortunately, many manufacturers of these are also selling electric scooters which are fully developed in China you might have heard about the smartphone brand Micromax that used to outplay Samsung in terms of smartphone sales in India. Now it is very difficult to find a Micromax Smartphone in the market but its co-founder Rahul Sharma started a new company recently with the name Revolt that manufactures an electric motorcycle RV-400 and Revolt is the 7th largest two-wheeler EV seller in India. Rahul Sharma found a new and very profitable means of developing this Motorcycle and that is, Revolt does not manufacture this motorcycle on its own. This motorcycle is the Rebadged Version of a Chinese Motorcycle from the Chinese Brand Super Soco. Micromax too used to operate in a similar fashion Micromax used to provide bulk orders to the Chinese OEMs and thus the smartphones of Micromax used to be manufactured in China.

Case Study of Electric Scooter Brand Okinawa 

Many EV manufacturers accept this fact with no shame that they are selling the Rebadged version of Chinese Two-Wheelers. Many of you might have heard about the Electric Scooter brand Okinawa This is an Indian brand that sounds like any Japanese brand. This brand is based in Gurgaon, India, and today, Okinawa is the 2nd largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer in India. Autocar was the first magazine to publish about Okinawa in the year 2017. It was mentioned in the article that Okinawa was selling a scooter with its brand name but that scooter was manufactured by a Chinese brand Luyuan. At that time many EV manufacturers were operating similarly. But Okinawa had something unique. 

Okinawa claimed that they have fully developed this scooter in India on their own Next similar article by Autocar was published in the year 2020. This time they found that the latest Cruiser E-Scooter from Okinawa again resembled a scooter manufactured by Luyuan. But again Okinawa claimed that even this scooter is in-house designed and developed by them and again in the year 2022, Autocar published a similar article about Okinawa. Every scooter from Okinawa resembles the scooters manufactured by the Chinese brand Luyuan. The brand logo of Okinawa also resembles the brand logo of Luyuan. 

The two brand logo only differs in their colors, one more thing was found in this article. One scooter from Hero Electric which is the largest Electric Scooter manufacturer in India also resembles a Chinese Electric Scooter and there might be more such scooters of which I am not aware it is not at all illegal to sell Chinese products in India.

Smartphone market pattern in India

Despite being totally legal, this operating model has a drawback you must be aware of the fact that how big were smartphone makers like Micromax, Lava, and Karbon during some time? But then came a period when Chinese smartphone brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo entered the Indian market. These Chinese brands brought cheaper and more advanced smartphones to the Indian market. Due to this, the Indian manufacturers lost their market this happened because these Indian brands used to manufacture smartphones through Chinese OEMs and used to sell them in the Indian market when the big Chinese smartphone brands entered the Indian market. Then the Indian smartphone brands were neither technologically advanced enough nor these Indian brands had any Research and Development facilities to compete with the Chinese brands.

The EV market in India

A similar scenario can be observed in the Indian EV market. Chinese EV brands are trying to understand the Indian EV market through Indian EV brands and when they would gather enough information, then the Chinese EV brands would launch their own highly advanced and cheaper Electric Scooters in India and these Scooters sold only by the Indian brand Logo would extinct from the Indian market.

These Indian Startups are working on Electric Motorcycles in INDIA

Many Indian Electric Two Wheelers brands are working very hard and ground up developing advanced Electric Scooters in India. Like Ather Electric which does not require any introduction, Revamp Motors is developing Electric Scooters for Micro-Entrepreneurs Ultraviolette Automotive that is developing a lightning-fast Electric Motorcycle. Ola Electric is working very hard to develop an Indian Futuristic Electric car. There are 9-10 Indian Startups that are fully developing their products in India and these startups would lead the Indian EV market in the future would compete neck to neck with the Chinese brands.

If you have found this article interesting write in the comment section. What do you feel about this Indian Electric Scooters Scenario?

 Batteries are becoming an increasingly important energy storage technique. As the world continues to migrate away from relying on fossil fuel energy and toward energy generated by emission-free electrification. Since their first commercial introduction in the early 1990s, lithium-ion batteries have become the power source of selection for many electronic devices, including mobile phones, electric vehicles, and drones.

The demand for lithium-ion batteries for electric power vehicles and energy storage has seen exponential growth, from just 0.5 gigawatt-hours in 2010 to approximately 526 gigawatt-hours a decade later in 2022. This growth is because lithium-ion batteries can accumulate a significant amount of energy. And according to Bloomberg's projections, demand will climb 17 times by the year 2030, which will decrease the cost of battery storage.

Which Automakers are in the race for Hydrogen cars?

In addition, recycling lithium-ion batteries is difficult and expensive. Therefore, now is the right time to grab this opportunity to search for alternative battery technologies that are both effective and affordable. Thankfully, two of the most well-known automotive manufacturers in the world have plans to collaborate on the research and development of a brand-new type of battery that will revolutionize the industry! So, what are these companies, and how exactly will this happen? 

BMW and Toyota plan to develop hydrogen fuel cells for their EVs! 

It has been reported that by the middle of the decade, BMW and Toyota will work together to manufacture hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. According to BMW sales chief Pieter Nota, who spoke with an online news platform, the two will start producing and selling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles they created together as early as 2025. You see, the automakers had collaborated in the past, such as when they developed the iX5 hydrogen, which was based on BMW’s X5 SUV.

Additionally, in 2019, they also jointly built the BMW Z4 and the Toyota Supra sports cars. Toyota has extensive expertise with fuel cell technology, and the company's Mirai mid-size vehicle, which debuted eight years ago and is now entering its second generation, is evidence of this. These vehicles do not have an internal combustion engine or battery, and they use hydrogen and oxygen to generate power. Cars powered by fuel cells have several advantages over battery-powered vehicles since they can get more miles per gallon and can get refueled in as little as 3 to 4 minutes. However, most of the public hydrogen stations in the United States are located in the state of California, and even in that state, the technology is not yet suitable for widespread use. Now, despite BMW's re-entry into the electric vehicle industry with the i4 four-door coupe and the IX SUV, the company has hinted that it may also pursue hydrogen as an energy source in the future.

Oliver Zipse, the CEO of the company, stated in a recent earnings call that the company’s next-generation platform, Neue Klasse, will most likely be designed to support gaseous fuel in addition to pure battery power. The firm has also previously implemented a plan with a platform known as CLAR. That supported internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric propulsion systems. Now, this method is described as an “all-of-the-above" strategy. And because of CLAR, BMW was able to move fast on plug-in hybrids.

Nevertheless, the company's recent attempts to develop pure EVs have lagged behind its competitors. Neue Klasse may experience the same issues, or they may be able to find a solution to them. Beginning in 2025, when new 3-series sedans and X3 SUVs based on the platform go on sale, the market will have the opportunity to make the decision.

But first, how exactly do hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles work? 

Fuel cell electric vehicles or FCEVs are similar to all-electric cars because they use electricity to power an electric motor. In contrast to other types of electric cars, fuel cell electric vehicles generate their own electricity by using a fuel cell fuelled by hydrogen rather than just drawing electricity from a battery. Now, the vehicle's power is determined by the vehicle’s manufacturer during the process of designing the car. The vehicle's power is also determined by the size of the electric motor that receives electric power from the fuel cell and the correctly sized battery combination. Even though car manufacturers could design an FCEV with plug-in capabilities to charge the battery, most FCEVs on the market today use the battery to store the energy that is recovered from braking.

This not only offers additional power during brief acceleration events but also helps to smooth out the power produced by the fuel cell. It is done by giving the driver a choice to let the fuel cell idle or switch it off when the vehicle's power requirements are low. The size of the hydrogen fuel tank on board is also what determines the total quantity of energy that can be stored there. However, this is not the same as an all-electric vehicle, in which the size of the battery is directly related to the amount of power and energy available.

BMW sees potential in Hydrogen Fuel cell Technology

So, BMW is one of the few automakers who believe that switching to electric propulsion does not necessarily require the installation of cumbersome and space-consuming batteries in a vehicle. And it continues to see potential in hydrogen technology. As a result, the iX5 will undergo a limited production run in the latter half of 2022. It's interesting to note that the German luxury brand has also already started planning for the future of fuel cell technology. During the conference call to discuss the firm's half-year report, the chairman of BMW Group, Oliver Zipse, stated that the company is "already thinking about a possible future generation." And if the proposal is accepted, it won't be implemented shortly because the current generation of the X5 is scheduled to have a mid-cycle refresh in 2023. This means that the next-generation SUV won't hit the market until 2026. Nevertheless, the executive's statement shows that BMW is serious about pursuing hydrogen as a fuel source. 

Oliver Zipse asserts that “hydrogen is the missing piece of the puzzle that can complement electro-mobility in places where battery-electric drivetrains are unable to gain traction". To that end, the  Neue Klasse platform, scheduled to debut in 2025 with a battery-powered 3 Series Sedan, could be modified to support a fuel cell. The executive, who is 58 years old, has also stated that for the time being,  BMW can only "imagine a hydrogen drivetrain for this new vehicle generation". The top executive at BMW thinks that hydrogen-powered individual mobility "needs reassessing", particularly in some countries where traditional battery EVs have not yet achieved widespread acceptance. 

The BMW iX5 Hydrogen is an SUV that weighs less than a battery-powered vehicle of comparable size. And that's because it replaces huge batteries with two hydrogen tanks constructed from carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). The SUV has a total output of 374 horsepower (275 kW). And it has a higher power output than a vehicle of a similar size. 

You see, it takes only three to four minutes to refuel a hydrogen-fueled automobile, making it just as quick as a vehicle powered by gasoline or diesel. This is in addition to the fact that a hydrogen-powered car is noticeably lighter than a conventional electric vehicle. In the case of the BMW iX5, the sport utility vehicle (SUV), BMW developed the car to use waste heat to warm the interior cabin. As with other hydrogen-powered vehicles, such as the Toyota  Mirai, the only emission is water vapor. And now, all we need to do is keep an eye on this area to learn more about the production-ready fuel cell SUV, the BMW iX5 Hydrogen, since the first vehicle reviews are scheduled to take place in Europe this fall. 

So, what do you think of BMW and Toyota's initiative to develop this battery? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!