Auto industry sees India as a great use case for 2-wheeler EV market

“It is all about the design, keeping in mind things like energy consumption, gravity balancing, safety and refrigeration. In future, you will see EVs which will do refrigeration, delivery of things like medical supplies by implementing the correct shape, ergo dynamics and stability”

As two-wheeler EV adoption sees a tremendous rise in India, Suchit Jain, vice-president (Strategy and business development) Dassault Systèmesbelieves that the country is a great ‘use case’ for the EV market -- a sector which will see an explosion in the next five years.

The automotive, electric 2-wheelers (E2W) market grew by more than 300 per cent (year-on-year) in 2022. By 2025, the share of E2Ws and connected 2-wheelers (C2W) will both cross 50 per cent, according to a report by Cybermedia Research (CMR).

"The typical notion when we think of an EV is a car, but in India, it is the two-wheeler," Jain told this correspondent.

During his last visit to India in November 2022, Jain learnt of the usage of two-wheelers for delivering things like food and grocery and how it must wriggle their way into congested areas.

"For this, it is all about the design, keeping in mind things like energy consumption, gravity balancing, safety and refrigeration. In future, you will see EVs which will do refrigeration, delivery of things like medical supplies by implementing the correct shape, ergo dynamics and stability," he elaborated.

The government aims to grow EV sales in India to capture the markets of 30 per cent of private cars, 70 per cent of commercial vehicles and 80 per cent of two and three-wheelers by 2030.

Jain said that battery development and battery management for EVs as well as safety consumption are areas that will play a crucial role in India.

"If done right, India can become the biggest supplier of EV batteries. The country is a huge economy and a lot of economists are looking into this aspect," said Jain, who holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from IIT-Bombay and a master's degree in structural mechanics from the University of Southern California.

He went on to talk about an interesting fact in the pipeline for Dassault Systèmes helping companies develop lithium substitutes.

"Although it is not the mainstream as yet, we have helped companies to develop lithium substitutes. Dassault platform allows molecular-level chemistry. We have invested a lot in pharmaceuticals. With this, companies can create the new material as lithium has its own issues."

The next five years will see an explosion in terms of the EV market.

"It is an interesting time that we are living in with technology changing every few years. What happened in the last 50 years is compressed into five. We will see a lot more in the years ahead," Jain said.