Ikjot’s blog: Electric mobility is here and here to stay
What is impossible?
When Steve Jobs said he wanted to build a phone with a touch sensitive screen with only one button on it, the world said impossible, not feasible and impractical. However, as it neared production and it was launched, it washed away all speculations and there it was, the mighty ‘iPhone’.
“I am now presuming that other than curiosity, speculation has also become the key to invention.”
Similarly, when Elon Musk got the Lotus adapted and modified to run on batteries, the world said it is as good as a gimmick and it is far away from real world application. The rest are still charging at the great Gigafactory. I am now presuming that other than curiosity, speculation has also become the key to invention.
The electric motors coming into play
With all the fuss about electrics around, how does an electric vehicle work? It is fairly simple and doesn’t involve a lot of moving parts which makes it more of a favourite for newer players to try their strategy. An electric vehicle essentially contains a pack of batteries sandwiched together to form the power source, a motor controller and then the electric motors which drive the wheels. People relate the batteries in these vehicles to the batteries found in our inverters and general motorcycles and cars, which fail, need replacing and also need regular maintenance, but instead of ‘times’, the ‘batteries’ have changed and all the basic speculation that the common man had with respect to an electric vehicle and its batteries has been resolved ever since an average rickshaw driver managed to upgrade to an e-rickshaw and could manage to charge, maintain and repair it effortlessly and still make money. People no longer require counselling about electrics or their viability. They are here and here to stay. The government too is doing its bit to support this initiative and has introduced various subsidies, incentives and many new programmes to promote the use of electric vehicles. One of them is the ‘Fame INDIA Scheme’, specifically designed to give a push to electric vehicles in multi modal public transport systems.
“Indian conglomerates have invested heavily in electrics, have set up R&D centres or have acquired newer companies with an electric background or have funded them, so that they develop the future for the world, here in India.”
Now that we have established that electric vehicles are viable, let us look into our market, which is not waiting for the world to bring in their products instead we are waiting and ready with our products. Indian conglomerates have invested heavily in electrics, have set up R&D centres or have acquired newer companies with an electric background or have funded them, so that they develop the future for the world, here in India. Companies like Tork, Ather and Emflux have been backed by huge companies or investors and they are fully developed in India. I still remember the time when Tork had just come out with a prototype based on a Yamaha FZ chassis with batteries and they were offering bolt-on kits, but now they have road legal bikes with a warranty and an expanding charging base. Whereas Tork is for the masses, Emflux is for the races. This bike according to their website says that it will be India’s first electric sports bike with a top speed of 200kmph. All I can think of at this point is a drag race between the mental RC 390 and the ‘elemental’ Emflux bike.
