Often when we think about a country’s electrification journey, we’re only just thinking about the passenger vehicle segment. But in reality, commercial vehicles also contribute significantly to carbon emission levels as they plough through long distances at all hours of the day.
Founder and CEO of Chandigarh-based electric mobility startup EVage Ventures, Inderveer Singh, realised that this was a problem as early as 2014, which eventually led to the birth of this unique EV company in 2019.
“EVage stands for – Electric Vehicle Age – we want to bring the era of electric vehicles in India into the commercial EV space, a new age of efficient and innovative transportation by manufacturing commercial EVs for mid and last mile delivery. We have a fabulous team of highly skilled engineers, technologists, scientists, and designers who have worked in the aerospace industry, missile propulsion systems segments, and of course, the automobile industry,” says Singh.
“We are focused on furthering mobility or on reimagining mobility to transform lives and businesses, so for us, any movement from point A to point B represents an opportunity. The commercial EV space presented a great opportunity, and we decided to capitalize on the same. We saw a massive gap in this category that no other OEM addressed.”
EVage’s mission wasn’t just to fulfil the gap in the market. Singh explained that the fact this gap existed contributed significantly to the levels of carbon emissions.
“The transport sector accounts for 18% of total energy consumption in India. This translates to an estimated 94 million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE) energy. Moreover, the sector also contributes an estimated 142 million tons of CO2 emissions annually, out of which 123 million tons is contributed by the road transport segment alone, according to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India.”
“Our approach was to speak to multiple personas across the commercial logistics ecosystem to understand their challenges and identify innovations for us to help them overcome them. At EVage, we want to build and create EVs that would significantly impact and transform how we look at mobility.
“Traditional commercial vehicles powered by gasoline contribute to 10% of total vehicles on the road but account for over 30% of fuel consumption. Keeping in view the climate change commitments made by the Government of India during the COP21 Summit held in Paris to reduce emission intensity by 33- 35% by 2050 from 2005 levels, it is pertinent to introduce alternative means of commercial vehicles on roads,” he adds.
To address this gap, EVage developed the Model .X, a one-tonne truck specifically aimed at the commercial vehicle segment. What sets the Model .X apart is the fact that it is a product of co-creation, where the customers of the company were actively involved.
“We are seeking their input on the insightful data derived from them to make our product more efficient, reliable, and above all else, help serve a vital purpose. We have chosen 1 tonne payload truck , as this is currently the most demanded requirement in the small commercial segment,” explains Singh.
“At EVage, we have looked at building our vehicle in conjunction with the needs and demands of our customers. We have not looked at retrofitting vehicles as that compromises the safety quotient, especially in the commercial space. We have built everything ground-up, from technology to design, bringing the latest technology and innovations into our product.”