EV companies gear up to mitigate chip crunch

New Delhi: Conflicted between boosting sales and maintaining production capacity, the electric vehicle (EV) automobile companies are looking for alternative options to procure semiconductorchips. BizzBuzz spoke with EV manufacturers on the sales strategy to be adopted for the festiveseason amid ongoing global shortage of semiconductors.

Sneha Shouche, CFO, Wardwizard Innovations and Mobility Limited, said that the company is targeting to increase the production of its EV two-wheelers based on the demand it receives from the market. The company says that the demand for EV has throughout the country and the company is aiming to increase its production upto 5,000 vehicles/month from next financial year.

"We have not faced the challenge of (shortage) semi-conductor yet, the reason being that we made our procurements of the chips in accordance with the production and distribution of the vehicles during the festive season. So, for the time being, there is not going to a problem for us," Shouche explained. Similar to most EV manufactures, the company's production boost is reliant on the advance booking of its varied range of bikes.

According to Shouche, semi-conductor chips are used in EVs to support components such as controller, charger, connector and digital meters. The EV segment, according to industry experts, is experiencing a favorable response from both consumers as well as leading government bodies. Another two-wheeler EV company, Hop Electric Mobility told Bizz Buzz that chip shortage crisis has diverted them to look for alternative sources to procure the element. "Hop Electric Mobility has taken an alternative approach in the right time where we partner with different manufacturers for chip supply, and our boot loaders and firmware integration are flexible to accommodate different make of chips within minimum possible time with impacting quality. Due to which it makes it easier to shift from one male to another in at least downtime and does not have a huge impact on our supply chain. We also partner with the largest electronics distribution company to hedge the risk of supply of components," the company said.

On the sales strategy to be adopted for the festive period, the EV manufacturer has said that with the steady increase and interest since the last quarter, the company plans to expand in eight plus States with 100 plus channel partner showrooms and service centres in this financial year. The company has said that it has been from the last 3 months to manage efficient demand and supply during the festive period and will be adding more than 7500 plus units 'order in well advance' to deliver during festive season and before end of year.