UK-based EV battery pack technology start-up Ionetic has unveiled what it claims is a world-first software-accelerated, AI-supported development system, Arc, that delivers multi-million dollar savings in battery pack development costs, and halves time-to-market for custom battery packs.

Launched alongside Ionetic’s refreshed logo, brand, and website, Arc slashes the typical around $30 million investment and four-year development cycle required for bespoke EV battery systems from tier 1 suppliers by automating design and integrating pre-validated components into a fully end-to-end battery pack development system. The Arc system allows Ionetic to rapidly deliver cost-effective, performance-optimised battery solutions that meet OEMs’ customer and commercial needs faster and with less risk.

James Eaton, CEO and Co-Founder, Ionetic said: "As the push for electric vehicle adoption accelerates, OEMs need the right partners to bring competitive electrified vehicles to market as fast as possible. Ionetic’s fully end-to-end, in-house offering firmly establishes our position as a battery technology tier 1 at the forefront of innovation; our Arc system allows us to provide OEMs with pre-validated, tailored solutions – enabling them to remove inefficient development processes, focus on vehicle innovation, and eliminate the usual bottlenecks of cost and time. It’s our mission to help OEMs supercharge the electric transition in a way that is profitable and futureproofed for the next era of mobility – a mission that our proprietary technology is primed to achieve.”

The start-up states that battery pack development is one of the most time- and cost-intensive challenges in bringing an EV to market, on-schedule and at an affordable price-point. OEMs needing between 100 and 10,000 battery packs a year are typically faced with a difficult choice: between expensive and time-consuming, highly bespoke battery packs; or low-performance off-the-shelf solutions – with neither option providing a compelling way for OEMs to launch electrified vehicles.

With 95 percent of the world’s OEMs producing low-volume bespoke platforms such as trucks, buses, and sportscars, Ionetic claims its AI-supported, end-to-end approach effectively unleashes the ability of EV OEMs to access high-performance custom battery packs without the usual costs and complexity.

Arc enables Ionetic to deliver batteries to OEMs that combine the best speed and affordability of off-the-shelf solutions with the flexibility and performance of bespoke designs – which reduces time, cost, and development challenges. The system achieves this by seamlessly integrating three elements:

Software: A network of AI-accelerated design tools which remove manual, iterative human design engineering. Instead, Arc rapidly optimises, conceptualises and brings-to-life the battery pack’s design, facilitating significant time- and cost-reductions.

Hardware: Arc is built around a pre-defined design system, including a number of pre-validated systems and components, all whilst supporting multiple different cell formats. This reduces both programme risk and validation time, whilst remaining highly flexible.

Fabrication: Rather than requiring large up-front investment and bespoke manufacturing lines, Arc utilises an innovative, flexible manufacturing system. More akin to the approach taken by semiconductor fabricators, this allows Ionetic’s production facility to serve multiple different customers, without the time and costs typically required for new-line set-up.  

Founded in 2022, Ionetic is a leading innovator in EV battery pack technology, combining advanced software tools and smart manufacturing systems to deliver high-performance, cost-effective battery solutions for low-volume OEMs.

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Nawgati has announced the launch of Aaveg Pro, an integrated operations platform for petroleum dealers, at the Petrol Dealers Association Pune (PDAP) Annual General Meeting. The system is designed to digitise fuel station management within the Indian retail ecosystem.

Aaveg Pro serves as a digital operating system to replace manual workflows in fuel retail. The platform consolidates several critical station functions into a single interface:

• Sales and Inventory: Features include shift-level nozzle reconciliation, live inventory tracking and stock variation control.
• Financial Accounting: The system supports VAT, GST, cess and surcharge handling to maintain audit-ready records and real-time balance sheet visibility.
• Fleet and Credit Management: Dealers can manage digital fleet contracts, consolidated invoicing and credit risk monitoring.

The platform is designed to integrate with existing station infrastructure, such as dispensers, CCTV systems, fuel storage compressors and vehicle-tracking systems, to provide operational oversight.

Vaibhav Kaushik, Co-Founder & CEO, Nawgati, said, “The launch of Aaveg Pro reflects our continued commitment to building solutions that solve real operational challenges for fuel dealers. Fuel retail in India still relies heavily on fragmented and manual workflows across accounting, stock monitoring, reconciliation, and customer credit management. With Aaveg Pro, we are bringing these critical functions onto one integrated platform so that dealers can operate with greater visibility, control, and efficiency.”

Aalaap Nair, Co-Founder, Nawgati, said, “Aaveg Pro has been built specifically for the day-to-day realities of fuel retail operations in India. From shift-level reconciliation and stock tracking to consolidated fleet invoicing and live financial reporting, the platform is designed to reduce complexity and improve decision-making at the station level. Our goal is to help dealers move away from manual processes and adopt a smarter, more scalable way of running their businesses.”

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Charge_iN by Mahindra and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) have signed a strategic agreement to develop electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at HPCL retail outlets across India. The collaboration aims to utilise HPCL’s national fuel station network to increase the availability of public charging points for electric four-wheelers.

HPCL currently operates over 24,400 retail outlets and has installed more than 5,400 charging stations under its HP e-Charge brand. The new stations established through this partnership will exclusively feature 180 kW dual gun chargers, designed for high-speed charging.

The deployment is intended to support the transition to green transportation in India, currently the third-largest automotive market globally. The agreement focuses on building an ultrafast charging network to improve reliability and reduce charging times for EV users.

The partnership aligns with the government's objective of strengthening public EV infrastructure. By integrating chargers into existing fuel stations, the companies aim to provide a platform for nationwide expansion and seamless access for drivers.

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Electric mobility startup Bijliride has detailed plans to expand its franchise network to more than 25 Indian cities. Operating under a Franchise Owned–Franchise Operated (FOFO) model, the company aims to onboard 30 franchise partners by March 2027 and scale its fleet to between 10,000 and 15,000 electric two-wheelers within the next 18 months.

The expansion the startup claims is projected to drive 150 percent growth in fleet operations. Bijliride has identified several urban mobility markets for this phase, including:

• Tier 1 Cities: Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata.
• Emerging Hubs: Hyderabad clusters, Jaipur, Patna, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Kochi.
• Logistics Centres: Nagpur, Indore, Surat, and Visakhapatnam.

The strategy targets demand from logistics operators, gig economy platforms and urban commuters.

Under the FOFO structure, local partners own and manage the fleets while Bijliride provides the technology infrastructure. This includes real-time vehicle tracking, battery management protocols, and rental management systems.

The partners have to commit to a minimum of 50 electric two-wheelers to begin with, an initial investment of around INR 1.4-1.6 million, with a projected breakeven in approximately 15 months under stable fleet utilisation. The startup also assists partners with driver onboarding and connects fleets with demand from local delivery businesses and gig platforms.

Shivam Sisodiya, CEO and Co-Founder, Bijliride, said, “Electric mobility demand in India is growing rapidly, particularly among gig workers and last-mile delivery operators. At this stage, our focus is disciplined scale. The FOFO model allows us to grow responsibly by partnering with local entrepreneurs who understand their markets while leveraging our technology platform and operational systems. This structure enables us to expand faster while ensuring fleets are managed efficiently on the ground.”

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It’s been sometime that Donut Lab has been working on producing a battery that will address the challenging needs of EVs better than other batteries have been able to do. Claiming to be the world’s first solid-state battery ready for production vehicles measured in independent testing conditions, the company has released its third test result that dispels any suspicions that the battery would be a supercapacitor rather than a battery.
The results measure the properties of its solid-state battery, evaluating its ability to retain charge when not in use. Available for download on its site, the third and most recent test follows two other tests that looked at charging speed (the test was conducted by Technology Re) using two passive cooling configurations and evaluation of capacity performance of the battery cell in hot conditions (by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland). 
The test measuring the battery’s ability to retain charge even when not in use was carried out using a simple research setup. It was connected at room temperature to the research laboratory’s battery tester, which repeatedly measured the cell voltage every 10 seconds. Like the previous test that measured battery performance at very high temperatures, this test also began with a 1C capacity test, demonstrating that the cell was precisely the same as the other test examples.
 
After the capacity test, the battery cell was charged to approximately 50 percent charge and left connected to the battery tester for ten days. The cell was then discharged to measure the remaining energy capacity. The results show that the battery cell voltage stabilises during the first 10 hours after charging. Over the next nine or so days, the voltage curve continues to stabilise. A capacity test at the end of the test period confirmed that the voltage drop corresponds to the amount of energy in watt-hours.
The Donut Battery behaved in the test exactly as a battery should. If the test had been performed with a supercapacitor, the charge would have fallen linearly much faster during the same time period.
“Since we unveiled the Donut Battery, there has been a lot of speculation and theories about whether it is a supercapacitor. In all its simplicity, this test proves that it is a battery. Supercapacitors charge and discharge quickly, but they also lose their charge quickly when not in use. The Donut Battery behaves like a battery and can maintain a charge for significantly longer,” confirmed Ville Piippo, CTO, Donut Lab.
After the third test mentioned above, Donut Lab has carried out a special test to measure battery performance in a battery pack using the Verge TS Pro motorcycle that charges in less than ten minutes, making it the world's fastest-charging electric motorcycle.
 

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