With the hyper-focus on electric vehicles (EVs) in India, EVage believes that by sheer impact, the most significant growth levers can be impacted by the quick adoption of commercial EVs and that’s where EVage intends to play a crucial role.
EVage has developed the FR8, a light commercial vehicle (LCV) platform, aimed at electrifying mid- and last-mile logistics across India. It’s built to handle any road condition, at a price point that works for every market.
The company has conceptualised and invented technology using modern manufacturing techniques for a smaller more sustainable footprint. This allows EVage to assemble vehicles in locally placed modular micro manufacturing factories.
The EVage platform is a highly modular and customisable design. It uses an aluminium chassis and composite body construction that allows for large dimensional adjustment within and between models.
The fabrication process methodologies allow high-quality, profitable production in short runs. Along with the adjustability, this enables many different vehicle lines to suit the different needs of end users.
US-based venture capital firm RedBlue Capital invested $28 million in EVage earlier this year. This was among the largest seed rounds for any Indian start-up.
Recently Toshiba India Private Limited (Toshiba India) announced the signing of an agreement with EVage Automotive Private Limited (EVage) to supply its SCiBTM rechargeable lithium-ion cells to power the next 10,000 EVage electric commercial vehicles.
Inderveer Singh, EVage founder and CEO, said: “With each budget cycle, the government gets another golden opportunity to showcase its willingness to accelerate the adoption of cleaner mobility in the country.
“Two-wheel (2W) EV adoption is growing at a breakneck pace in India, as we are one of the world’s largest 2W markets. However, the commercial vehicles segment is the most significant contributor to the logistics sector’s carbon emissions.”
EVage believes the government needs to consider commercial EV financing a game-changer to enable lightning-quick adoption in the four-wheel (4W) category.
Instead of subsidies, the company believes in the need to lower interest rates for EV financing and standardise residual battery value calculation. Fleet owners will significantly benefit from the clearance of these hurdles.
Singh added: “On the side of innovation, the government of India needs to take cognizance of the drivers of true innovation in the EV sector – the startups – and create a level playing field for them in their incentive schemes, access to funding and financing and government fleet electrification projects as well.
“Adding EVs as a priority sector lending (PSL) category could be a solid interim step to encourage fleet owners to choose electric. Because most state EV policies and frameworks do not include 4W considerations or fast-charging infrastructure guidelines, there needs to be a swift revamp in 2023 to galvanise the sector and make it the inflection point for commercial EVs in India.”
It’s good to see EVage developing and pushing four-wheel electric LCVs in the country. The adjustable and adaptable platform makes it ideal for a wide range of real work uses. These zero emissions will play a pivotal role in helping to clean up the roads in India in the future.