Wicher Kist, CEO, Saietta Electric Drive takes time out of customer meetings to speak to Sarada Vishnubhatla about his company’s expectations for the Indian market and how the IAA Transportation 2022 is all about exciting times ahead in the business.
Saietta Electric Drive @ IAA Transportation 2022: It is absolutely fantastic to be back here at the show presenting our new products, and promoting Saietta Electric Drive (Saietta) in Germany. Padmini VNA is our partner in India for the electric vehicle segment and recently, we have signed a deal with ConMet for the heavy-duty vehicle market. The objective is to mainly expose our brand to international visitors and customers. Most of them, including companies from India, already know us. Our understanding is that most customers are yet to be introduced to e-drive solutions, especially in the heavy truck industry, where we are active besides our focus areas which include the L-2, L-3 and L-7 vehicle categories, which are the mopeds, light motorbikes and the last mile delivery quadricycles.
Latest @ Saietta: Our flagship product, which is the axial flux motor, is being presented here. We’re also revealing our brand-new product, which is the four-kilowatt radial flux motor which can run our integrated inverter. Both motor-inverters are specifically designed for the Asian market. We have production lines sitting ready to go, and one of them will be shipped to our joint venture partner in India, Padmini VNA Mechatronics. And we will basically help clean up the air in large cities around the world, including India. Then, we also have the AFT (Axial Flux Technology) motor which is specifically designed for the L-7 vehicle category such as the last mile delivery vehicles, but also the 150-200 cc motorbikes. So, it is always the same motor, but one which can be fitted into a full e-axle. But it it is also available as a standalone motor with a fully integrated inverter, which shares the cooling system and can be fitted directly into a motorbike. This effectively is the replacement of an entire 110 cc powertrain.
Speciality @ Saietta: Our USP is bringing clients to production faster. So we have the motor and e-drive technology and we are ramping up the supply chain in India. But most importantly, we have our own power electronics, running our own software, and the full diagnostic suite. So if you produce hundreds of 1000s of vehicles and if you want to switch to electric, fast, we can offer you the full suite, and even integrate into your dealer service network to make sure that you can also maintain them.
Putting Best Foot Forward: Saietta Electric Drive is now active in not only light duty, but also heavy duty and at IAA Transportation 2022, we are promoting for the first time our heavy-duty division. Our overall objective is to help vehicle manufacturers from scooters to trucks go electric in India much faster and we are ready to deploy. The Saietta eDrive technology is designed specifically for the Asian market, our sales and manufacturing routes to market are through Saietta VNA, our joint venture with Padini VNA and a supply chain heavily weighted towards Indian partners is rapidly ramping up. In short, eDrive solutions engineered in the UK for Indian, made in India with a largely Indian supply chai
