The 3rd edition of iTEC India, held in Bengaluru, saw a successful finish with over 1000 delegates in attendance. The event, which was held from 17 to 19 December, was one of the largest conferences on transportation electrification in India.
Focusing on the theme of ‘E-Mobility Solutions for the Community’, iTEC India 2019 saw over 150 technical paper presentations on topics such as Challenges to meet Vision 2030, Power Electronics, EV Architecture & Charging, Component Optimisation, Battery Management System and Policies regarding EVs, electrification of heavy-duty vehicles and Smart Materials.
“India needs affordable EV solutions for mass transportation. We need to create local solutions with global technology. India has the most shared mobility if we look at three wheelers and by 2040 we need to reach 50% of all mobility to shared mobility” Mr. Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric Mobility Limited said.
The conference included three Plenary Sessions with eminent industry members such as Mr. P.K. Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM; Mrs. Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, ARAI; Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IIT Madras; Mr. Matthias Brendel, Global Vice President, Electrification, AVL; Dr. Zed Tang, Global Solution Architect, ANSYS; Dr. Arunkumar Sampath, Chief Engineer and Head Innovation, Mahindra Electric; Dr. Tomy Sebastian, IPP, IEEE IAS; Mr. Steven Dom, Automotive Solution Manager, Siemens PLM, Belgium; Mr. Greg Harris, Global Leader for Electrification, HORIBA MIRA, Germany; Mr. C.P Vyas, President-Electrification Business, ABB India; Mr. Martin Murray, CTO, Mahindra Electric; Mr. Guillaume Gerondeau – Vice President Global Dassault Systems, Tokyo;
Two Leadership Forums were held on Day 2 and 3. The first forum focused on the topic ‘Electric Vehicle – Boon or Bane for the automotive industry?” with panelists such as Mr. Karthik Ganesan, Head of EV Marketing and Solutions Design, Ashok Leyland Limited; Mr. Vikram Gulati, Country Head & VP, Toyota Kirloskar; Mr. Anurag Garg, Country Head Powertrain India, Vitesco Technologies; Mr. Raghav Gulur VP& Head, ZF India; Mr. Sunil Motwani, Industry Director, Mathworks; Mr. Sridhar Dharmarajan, M.D, Hexagon and was moderated by Mr. Sumantra Barooah, Editor, Autocar Professional.
The second forum focused on “Sustainable mobility solutions – Affordable Technology enablers” with panelists Mr. Tarun Aggarwal, Vice President, Electrical, xEV and Connected Systems, MSIL; Mr. Pavan Kumar, Senior V.P-Global Indirect Business, Altair Engineering; Prof. Ashwin Khambadkone, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore; Mr. Mahesh Hariharan, M.D, Baghirathi Solutions; Dr. Jabez Dhinagar, Senior Vice President, TVS Motors Co Ltd; Mr. Vijay Mathew, Co-Founder, Integrated Transport Services – Auroville Consulting and was moderated by Mr. Deepangshu Dev Sarmah, Editor-in-Chief, Auto Tech Review.
“Complexities give us the opportunity to innovate. From that perspective, iTEC India 2019 gave us the opportunity to discuss the complexities and address the challenges in the eMobility landscape. The ‘eMobility’ that we know, also needs to be changed, we need to move towards ‘WeMobility’.” Dr. Bala Bharadvaj, M.D., Boeing India Engineering & Technology Centre and President SAEIndia said on the occasion.
“Overall the inaugural session and the presentations from industry stalwarts were well accepted by the audience. Over 600 delegates across various automotive organizations came for the event on Day 1. The stalls witnessed enormous energy and technical discussions,” Mr. Girish Ramaswamy, Head of Engineering – Engine & Drivetrain Systems, Vitesco Technologies said.
The exposition featured 25 stalls from companies like AVL, Mahindra Electric, Valeo, Ansys, Dassault Systemes and others who showcased pioneering, cutting-edge solutions for e-mobility.
iTEC Hackathon
This year’s edition included the ‘iTEC Hackathon’ for the first time, focusing on 6 problem statements exploring last-mile connectivity, battery technology and shared mobility. The hackathon intended to provide a platform for people to ideate for innovative solutions for India-specific e-Mobility problems. Ten teams were shortlisted from over 100 teams, competing for cash prizes of INR. One lakh and Rs. 50,000.
‘Team Praxians’ from Government Technical College, Coimbatore were the winners of the Hackathon and ‘Safety First’ from Mahindra Electric were the runners up. The winners and the runner up team were also given a chance to present at the iTEC conference to an audience of more than 600 people on the 3rd day of the conference.
iTEC Ride & Drive iTEC India also included a ‘Ride & Drive’ session, showcasing a 48V hybrid engine by Valeo, which caught the attention of many delegates at the conference.
