ANAND’s first full-fledged foray into the EV domain, has a clearly defined strategy to cater to the entire range of EV – two wheeler and three-wheeler vehicles ranging from low-speed scooters to high-speed motorcycles, and from passenger-carrying auto rickshaws to load-carrying three-wheelers. Sunil Kaul, ANAND Group’s President and Chief Technology Officer, and the ANAND Mando e-Mobility (AMeM) team discuss the company’s goal in attending the ACMA EV Expo at New Delhi, during March 2022 and its strategic priority areas with Rajesh Rajgor
Sunil Kaul, President and Chief Technology Offificer, ANAND Group (second from right) with his team
Products Displayed
We have displayed motors & controllers from ANAND Mando e-Mobility (AMeM) and also have our brake system and on-board chargers for 4W from Mando. We also have a section where ANAND Electronics products namely chargers (for 2W & 3W), and eBike controller have been presented.
AMeM Plans
AMeM, the second joint venture of the ANAND Group and Mando Corporation, is focused on developing, manufacturing and supplying e-drive systems – motor, transmission and controllers. In the first partial year of operations, we have won business of over 120,000 motors. By June 2022, we will have a full range of products – 12” and 10” hub motors with matched controllers. The installed capacity would be enhanced to 400,000 units of hub motor sets and 120,000 units of centre or mid-drive motor for motorcycles and 3W. Our plans are to garner a share of 25 to 30% of the EV 2W market space, with capacities in the range of 500,000 units of motor & controller – both hub and mid-drive.
eDrive at AMeM
We started with hub motors and a particular wheel size and are now getting into two different wheel sizes, different brake systems and different central motors with three variants. As every development comes with cost, we hope that the OEMs will take a step forward and look at us as a company with the capability to mass produce.
We are creating a system with different range of motors with voltages of 48, 60 and 72. As we go higher, we would have 96V too. We are a company that knows what it is doing – this year we want to focus on two-wheelers and three-wheelers and next year do the 50 KW motors for 4W. We have already committed Rs. 8 to 10 crore investment in futuristic motors and variants.
Apart from the in-house application engineering and product validation test set-up in AMeM, and the technology know-how from Mando Corporation, Korea, we have an engineering centre in Gurgaon, specialized in controllers and ADAS systems.
The components for motors and controllers have all been produced in India, and validated extensively in aggressive conditions, for performance, dust, water, heat and thermal management are all put to test on sophisticated state-of-the-art test rigs. We have four dynamometers at our site for testing and the components are put into production only after we have received satisfying findings on their dependability and durability. To our credit, the joint venture was set up in July 2021 and within nine months we started production to deliver our first component. This displays our commitment to achieving maximum efficiency in production along with quality within the shortest possible time, using project management.
As ANAND Group we believe we have to be seen as a unique player and not merely a player that plays on price. Each of the ANAND Group companies – sixteen in all, are committed to innovation and futuristic products. Full-fledged engineering design, application engineering, validation & testing, departments with focus on training and adapting latest technologies are at work.
ANAND Electronics
ANAND Electronics business group has been set up, by the merger and integration into the ANAND function of future mobility, a digital transformation team with skills in semi-conductor and embedded systems. This team has put up battery chargers for two-wheelers on display that can withstand voltage spikes of 90 to 300 volts. The controller for e-bikes is also on exhibit. HMI cluster is the third product. The ANAND Electronics business shall also provide LED, thin film transistor and any other features that OEMs require.
ANAND Group is working on strategies by exploring potential new technology partners to participate in the domains of cell manufacturing, battery pack manufacturing, energy storage systems and aspects related to future mobility.
