We aim to keep ICE engines efficient and develop light e-mobility

It is expected that the shift towards the EVs will be a gradual process. Maintaining engine efficiency in the ICE vehicles will help to bring a change by reducing emissions on a larger scale. Anil Kumar MR, MD & Regional President-Indian operations, SEG Automotive, discusses with Pushkar Oak about the sustainable initiatives that the company has undertaken as a manufacturer of EV motors.

Tell us how SEG is contributing to society with its products towards sustainable future?

We are currently focussing on development in the arena of electric vehicles (EVs). In the past both
petrol and diesel- engines have been explored and SEG has been the leader in making integrated combustion engine (ICE) efficient. Efficiency and sustainability at its core, paved way for the launch of the two new electric drivetrains for three and two wheelers— EM 1.5 and EM 1.8.

In these e-rickshaw motors, we have added one more improvement is to keep the efficiency flat over the working cycle or the real time drive cycle. This means that we will certainly be better in terms of range compared to that of the existing players in this relatively new market.

With the upcoming BS-VI introduction, CO2 legislation will become more streamlined and will prosper. Currently we are at 130 g /kilometre of CO2 and by 2022 the legislations demand that it should be reduced to 113 g / kilometre and in the next 3 years down to 100g/ kilometre.

Tell us about how low emission vehicles will be significant in
the future?

Globally, there will be acute need of the products meeting low-emission requirement. At SEG Automotive, we are already prepared for such challenges. Our low emission technology, is able to reduce emissions successfully and meets CAFE Norms, which may be demanded by 2022.

Once CAFE norms are in place, low-emission solutions for the ICE engine would be key in hybrids. Hybrids will work as a bridge between current ICE engines and future electric ones. This is the intermediate stage which we believe will come with more stringent CO2 legislations.

We aim to keep ICE engines efficient and develop light e-mobility in India and globally. Overall, our goal is electrification in the 48 v segment which is 3 wheelers.

What challenges do you observe ahead of electric vehicles?

Electrification in India would start
with 2- and 3-wheelers and will take a while for 4 wheelers. Some key challenges are:

Energy generation: 70 per cent of energy is generated from coal, rest is from renewable sources. A typical mid-size electric vehicle (EV) can generate up to 67 per cent lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than a petrol or diesel internal combustion engine (ICE) car. But electricity generation emits higher CO2 than burning petrol or diesel. Thus on the environmental side we are not yet ready.

TCO: The total cost of ownership (TCO) of ICE vehicles is very less than the payback period of the e-mobility which goes beyond 10 years while it is basically driven by the huge amount of the battery cost.

High battery expenditure: 1 kw power costs 170 dollars and unless it comes closer to 100 or below, the TCO of electric vehicles will not make much sense for individual mobility. However for the fleet mobility, since the usage is higher, it has a better chance to start off. So, Indian automotive industry is looking to start fleet electrification of the 4 wheelers while the individual mobility will take a while.

Tell us about your sustainable initiatives?

At SEG, our motors have been developed in India but only the key components have been sourced from Germany. With our products and further developments, we are already making automotive greener. For sustainability, we have plants across the globe
which are generating energy harnessing solar energy. We have similar plans in India, but we are just waiting for scale to go up for introducing projects like solar roofs.