Over the last three decades, Vector has been supplying tools and services that give engineers the decisive advantage to make challenging and highly complex designs and develop automotive products as simple and manageable as possible. Today, the company is working on various fronts from e-mobility to connectivity, cyber security to ADAS and will continue to work on the new areas which will drive the future of mobility. “Vector is also working on identifying the challenges that a customer could face in the future in the context of these trends and is working as a partner with the customers to overcome these challenges,” said Chandra Nataraja, Managing Director, Vector Informatik India. Nataraja also emphasises the need of ‘real R&D development’ at the local level in India, instead of being followers and adapters.

Q) We are coming across the word “complexity” often in the automotive industry? How does Vector help in simplifying the process in engineering, design, testing, validation and calibration?

Chandra Nataraja: At Vector Informatik, more than 3,000 employees across 31 locations worldwide support manufacturers and suppliers of the automotive industry with a professional platform of tools and software components. Our solutions are used by engineers of automotive OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers and other software organisations undertaking the development of automotive electronics.

There is increased complexity in the automotive space, especially with the software running in cars, for which development teams need to have an overview of their ideas being realised into technologies. There is a lot of toolchain and structure development, not to mention the standards that are being adopted. Vector is a part of several standardisation groups and offers solutions across the complete V cycle of automotive development process, including system engineering, design, testing, validation and calibration, which helps to simplify the processes for the customers.

To elaborate further, the ECU testing tools from Vector support in the implementation of simulation and test environments in an efficient way. Regardless of the task in the development process, the Vector testing tools provide a scalable and re-usable solution from pure SIL simulations to HIL testing with functional acceptance tests – for all types of vehicles including internal combustion engine, a hybrid or a purely electric vehicle. Similarly, for calibration, we provide software and hardware solutions which cover all requirements throughout the entire development process, right from function development through bypassing and rapid prototyping solutions to test bench applications and test drives during trials and in series production.

We also offer solutions to engineers in other application areas such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving, connected vehicles and electric vehicles. The company puts together solutions and provides customers with toolchain to develop, test, calibrate and validate software that is being developed for such applications.

Q) What are the current trends in the automotive industry for which the company is developing solutions?

Chandra Nataraja: Vector follows automotive trends closely, with the principle for the company being that it does not develop solutions in isolation, but rather works with customers as partners.

E-mobility is one of the major trends today and for electric mobility to enter mass market, smart charging is a key solution. The term smart charging is used for charging systems of electric or hybrid vehicles according to various standards like ISO 15118, DIN SPEC 70121 and SAE J2847/2. Vector supports developers of on-board charging ECUs in the vehicle, charging stations and induction charging systems with extensive test systems and bespoke ECU software. Using Vector test solution for smart charging, customers can test on-board charging ECUs without having to operate a real charging spot. Vector also offers solutions for testing of charging stations, E-Mobility Measurement and software stack for rapid development of charging ECUs, which supports all international standards including CCS, GB/T and CHAdeMO. This helps customers develop their software quickly and cost effectively.

Another area of focus is connected vehicles, where Vector is looking at extending the domain beyond the car, at the areas where it can offer standardisation. There is a large amount of data collected from the car when talking about connectivity, and the company is looking at cloud solutions in managing this data.

This also brings us to cyber security, where OEMs and applied partners are analysing if there is enough security of information inside the automobile. Vector has developed solutions related to remote updating of software, for which its understanding of the vehicle network is helping us to see how this can be connected with the IT world.

Autonomous Driving is another trend towards which Vector is carrying out development work, in partnership with BASELABS. BASELABS has algorithms related to ADAS for autonomous driving, and with Vector’s calibration product line aligned to it, we have an entire package which supports both the development and validation of ADAS.

Our tool set for testing and calibration has been developed to accommodate future vehicle technologies, and also extend it to multiple networks in the vehicle. Apart from developing innovations based on market trends, Vector is also working on identifying the challenges that a customer could face in the future in the context of these trends and is working as a partner with the customers to overcome these challenges.

Q) With the growing penetration of electronics in vehicles, how do you see the business opportunities for the company?

Chandra Nataraja: Since last 30 years, Vector has been a capable partner in the development of automotive electronics. Satisfied and successful customers are our motivation, and we work to ensure that our customers achieve an increase in value in their work that we can also be proud of. Driven by our passion for technology, we develop solutions which relieve engineers of their demanding tasks and our focus continues to be on providing products to customers for developing embedded systems so that they can develop solutions which will drive the future of mobility.

We see the business opportunities increasing with our existing customers as they look towards future challenges and opportunities. Also, the current trends have brought in new technology players in the automotive ecosystem, and we look forward to working with them as their reliable and technically competent partner.

Q) How do you see the collaborative approach, especially with high-tech companies?

Chandra Nataraja: Presently, we are already collaborating with multiple high-tech companies in Europe and USA. We do see the potential to collaborate with Indian Tier-1s, Tier-2s and service organisations, especially in the EV space. India is poised to develop a unique ecosystem within the electric vehicle segment where all these companies will play a key role, and we look forward to working as partners with everyone who will develop the future of mobility.

We continue to explore synergies with agile companies and our technology, which can be seen in our efforts to foray into areas other than automotive where we can add value as partner to customers and collaborate to develop technology solutions.

Q) What is the role of the Indian entity in Vector’s global business?

Chandra Nataraja: Vector Informatik India Private Limited is a 100 percent subsidiary of Vector Informatik GmbH and is headquartered at Pune with offices in Bengaluru, where more than 100 technical experts and subject matter specialists support the customers in automotive ecosystem with their challenges and provide customised solutions as per their development and testing needs.

We work closely with all global and local customers based in India, those who have technical teams and presence in India – to understand their development needs and provide solutions across application areas. Dedicated support team in India is available to the customers for all technical queries’ resolution, while we also facilitate the training needs of the customer locally. We also have a test services team which supports the customers with their customised project requirements related to test systems.

Q) What significance does AUTOSAR have for Vector?

Chandra Nataraja: We see that AUTOSAR is a standard that is widely adopted across the globe and the automotive market in India has also seen good adaptation towards AUTOSAR.

Vector has many years of experience in AUTOSAR and provides a comprehensive AUTOSAR Classic solution called as MICROSAR. It consists of the MICROSAR RTE (runtime environment) and MICROSAR basic software modules (BSW), which cover all aspects of the AUTOSAR standard and include many useful extensions. MICROSAR is widely used by several OEMs globally, and in India, many customers have MICROSAR stack running in their cars as the Tier-1s have used Vector AUTOSAR solutions.

Exida, the internationally recognised specialist for functional safety, has verified and independently certifies that the AUTOSAR 4 basic software from Vector fulfills the requirements of ISO 26262 up to the ASIL D level – it is called as MICROSAR Safe. MICROSAR Safe is the result of many years of experience in the field of functional safety and it helps customers integrate safety related functions into their ECU and develop AUTOSAR-based applications as per the functional safety standard, ISO 26262.

In 2017, the AUTOSAR development partnership added a new standard to its line-up that is based on POSIX operating systems: the “AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform”. Adaptive MICROSAR is the Vector solution for vehicles with an E/E architecture based on the AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform. It complements the proven MICROSAR with basic software for the AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform, which is optimised for highly automated driving, multimedia applications and networking services.

Thus, we at Vector provide field-proven AUTOSAR solutions which are tuned to the customer needs – offering a comprehensive range of design and development tools, ECU software and services around AUTOSAR. We are committed to support customers going ahead for all requirements around AUTOSAR.

Q) What are the new areas that Vector is now focusing on?

Chandra Nataraja: We continue to work closely as partners with customers to identify the new areas which will drive the future of mobility. We spoke about the current trends earlier and Vector continues its focus around those, including e-mobility, connectivity, cyber security and ADAS.

There is good amount of work going on towards the development of new connectivity-related technologies, as well as in cloud solutions. A lot of research is being undertaken on identifying the appropriate connectivity technologies for vehicle networks.

There are many new start-ups and technology players who are coming up as new trends emerge, across India and globe. Through our subsidiary VVC Vector Venture Capital GmbH, we continue to accompany young companies in their first steps by providing required support in different ways to these new entrants.

Vector Consulting Services is another such effort from our end to add value based on benchmarks, methodology and Vector experience in different toolchains. Through Vector Consulting, we aim to support customers for optimising the engineering and product development.

Q) What are the challenges in the industry?

Chandra Nataraja: Automotive electronics has come a long way and continues to evolve with trends and technologies like connected vehicles and autonomous driving, which we discussed earlier. Thus, one of the main challenges to the automotive ecosystem is to develop vehicles which are as secured as they are connected. The idea is to think more about the abuse cases than the use cases during development, which will ensure that the vehicles on the road continue to be reliable and secured.

On the development side, standardisation at the E/E Architecture level is the need of the hour which will allow for effective implementation of use cases like customisations amongst others.

We must understand that it takes considerable time and thought to bring new technologies to fruition and the process is at times slow. We thus need real R&D development at the local level in India, instead of being followers and adapters – this will allow for faster turnaround times and quicker technology adoption within the Indian automotive industry. (MT)

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WACKER is presenting a portfolio of battery electric vehicle safety innovations at the Battery Show in Stuttgart, Germany, running from June 9 to June 11. Among the products featured at the company’s Hall 1, Booth K45, are a ceramifying silicone for thermal barriers, thermally conductive potting compounds for power electronics and materials under the ELASTOSIL, SEMICOSIL, SILRES and WACKER Silgel brands. The ceramifying silicone notably enhances heat and flame resistance, while the potting compounds enable effective temperature control with minimal sedimentation, allowing processing after long storage without complex pretreatment.

New potting compounds for thermal management take centre stage as another key exhibit. The spotlight falls on ELASTOSIL RT 7616 TC and ELASTOSIL RT 7624 TC, both filled addition-curing silicone elastomers that cure at room temperature, enabling energy-saving handling of large components. ELASTOSIL RT 7616 TC offers a thermal conductivity of 1.6 W/mK, while ELASTOSIL RT 7624 TC achieves 2.4 W/mK.

Thermally conductive potting compounds must balance on-spec thermal conductivity with low viscosity, but low viscosity can cause particulate fillers to sediment and cake after prolonged storage. Redispersing such fillers is time-consuming and may require special mixing equipment. WACKER has now eliminated these concerns with the optimised rheological properties of its new products, making sedimentation and agglomeration effects irrelevant for customers.

Even if fillers settle under unfavourable transport or storage conditions, standard mixing equipment can easily redisperse them. ELASTOSIL RT 7616 TC and ELASTOSIL RT 7624 TC feature low viscosities of 5,500 and 8,000 mPa•s, respectively, allowing quick, bubble-free filling of gaps as small as a few hundred micrometres. Their room-temperature curing eliminates the need for ovens regardless of component size.

These heat-resistant, low-emission formulations are primarily used in electromobility battery chargers, DC/DC converters and inverters for thermal management of discrete components like coils or inductors. Other silicones for electromobility include SILRES MK, a methyl silicone resin for mechanical and thermal barriers and ELASTOSIL CM 18x potting compounds for side potting of cells and top potting of pressure-relief vents, providing electrical and thermal insulation without impairing vent function.

ELASTOSIL R 531/60, a ceramifying silicone rubber for busbar insulation in high-voltage batteries, rounds out the offerings. This extrudable material improves electric vehicle safety by ceramifying in a fire, encasing busbars in a ceramic layer to maintain electrical insulation. WACKER is demonstrating all these solutions live at the Stuttgart exhibition.

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ELANTAS Beck India Ltd. has announced a strategic push to strengthen its speciality chemicals portfolio in response to the country’s rapidly expanding data centre infrastructure sector. The company, recognised for its expertise in electrical insulation and electronic protection, aims to support the evolving technical demands of this high-growth market.

The firm’s product range includes wire enamels, high and low voltage insulation materials, varnishes, resins, potting compounds and electronic protection solutions. These materials serve critical components across data centre ecosystems, such as transformers, generators, motors, power distribution units, cooling systems, server room electronics and battery energy storage systems.

India’s data centre capacity is growing swiftly due to rising artificial intelligence workloads, cloud computing, 5G rollouts and stricter data localisation norms. As facilities shift towards higher density and always-on operations, the need for reliable electrical infrastructure has intensified, placing greater emphasis on thermal management, cooling efficiency, electronics protection and uninterrupted energy storage.

Leveraging over 70 years of experience in speciality chemicals, ELANTAS Beck India Ltd. continues to enhance its capabilities through application-driven innovation, technology transfers and ongoing material development. The company remains focused on aligning with emerging industry standards for efficiency, reliability and performance across critical electrical and electronic applications.

Anurag Roy, Managing Director, ELANTAS Beck India Ltd., said, “As India’s data centre ecosystem continues to expand, the demand for reliable and high-performance electrical infrastructure is increasing significantly. This is creating strong opportunities for advanced insulation and protection solutions across critical applications that enable uninterrupted operations of these facilities. With our proven chemistry in electrical insulation and electronic protection, ELANTAS is well-positioned to support this evolution through application-focused chemistries designed for reliability, efficiency and long-term operational performance.”

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Greaves Finance, the EV-focused non-banking financial company (NBFC) subsidiary of Greaves Cotton, has announced the successful deployment of its previously sanctioned institutional debt of INR 2.23 billion.

The capital injection, executed during the April-March 2026 fiscal cycle, has accelerated the retail lending footprint of its multi-brand electric vehicle financing platform, ev.fin, scaling its physical presence to 74 cities across India. The entity plans to surpass 80 operational cities by July 2026.

The INR 2.23 billion institutional capital was raised through a calculated asset-liability mix consisting of Listed Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) and structured term loans. The fundraise was anchored by a consortium of tier-one institutional lenders and asset management firms, including AK Capital, Northern Arc Investment Managers, AU Small Finance Bank, Ambit Finvest, MAS Financial Services and Maanveeya.

Backed by this capital deployment and rising consumer credit demand, the company's financial metrics as of March 2026 stand at INR 5.22 billion of Managed Assets Under Management (AUM), cumulative loan disbursements exceeding INR 7.74 billion, which includes over 55,000 active retail and fleet accounts.

Traditional automotive financing heavily weights a borrower's static income profile. In contrast, ev.fin utilises a differentiated, OEM-agnostic asset underwriting model that structures loan terms based on the real-time thermal health, degradation curves, and residual resale value of the EV battery pack.

The platform is directly embedded into the point-of-sale (POS) dealerships of major electric two-wheeler (E2W) and three-wheeler (E3W) original equipment manufacturers, including Ather Energy, Ampere, River, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company, Suzuki and Ultraviolette.

The platform's proprietary underwriting framework allows it to issue specialised, risk-adjusted credit instruments that track the entire functional lifecycle of an electric vehicle:

P B Sunil Kumar, Executive Director & CEO, Greaves Finance, said, “The deployment of substantial funds from our existing INR 2.23 billion, marks an important milestone for ev.fin and reflects strong institutional and investor trust. Our institutional partnerships and investor endorsement have provided a robust foundation, which demonstrates support for our differentiated business model and is a ringing endorsement of the way we have decided to scale the business."

"As India’s electric mobility market accelerates, innovative and accessible financing solutions will remain central to unlocking the next phase of growth. Recognising this potential, we are actively working toward expanding our lender ecosystem to support our next growth cycle while maintaining robust underwriting and portfolio quality,” he concluded.

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The Mexican federal government has officially unveiled the prototype for Olinia, the country's first domestic electric vehicle (EV) brand. Coordinated by the Ministry of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation (SECIHTI) and manufactured in Puebla, the project represents Mexico’s strategic shift from a pure export-oriented assembly hub to a developer of national intellectual property says a report by Mexico Business News.

Commercial production for Olinia is slated to begin in 2027, with the brand looking to challenge the historical dominance of foreign manufacturing frameworks.

Claudia Sheinbaum, President, Mexico, said, “Olinia represents the seed of a new innovation ecosystem built from Mexico."

The initiative directly addresses Mexico's long-standing reliance on final-assembly manufacturing under trade agreements like the USMCA. While countries like China capitalised on state coordination and strict supply chain control to build massive domestic EV ecosystems, Mexico historically lagged in capturing high-value-add automotive IP.

To bridge this gap, SECIHTI orchestrated an intensive 18-month engineering phase, uniting academic and public research powerhouses – including the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Tecnológico Nacional de México (TecNM), UNAM and UPAEP.

The brand's debut model, the Olinia Uno, targets urban utility and aggressive affordability, aiming for a market segment largely overlooked by global legacy automakers.

The Olinia Uno is expected to cost approximately MXN 150,000 or USD 8,600 (INR 716,466), comes with a 14.7 kWh battery, with a claimed range of approximately 125 km per charge and a top speed of 50 kmph. The EV is expected to offer a low running cost of around MXN 0.5 or INR 2.74 per km.

In terms of features, the EV comes with a 7-inch centre display, Bluetooth 5.0, USB/USB-C ports, 6-passenger capacity and wheelchair accessibility.

Operating under a mixed-ownership corporate structure, the Olinia project is currently seeking MXN 200 million (USD 11.4 million) in private capital to transition from prototype to commercial manufacturing. Facility construction in Puebla is scheduled to begin between August and September 2026.

The plant is expected to debut with an initial capacity of 20,000 units per year, aiming to scale to 50,000 units within four years and eventually peak at 100,000 units annually. Olinia will launch with 50 percent localisation, with a mandate to hit 75 percent localisation by 2030.

The project is led by Director Roberto Capuano Tripp, with the initial phase involves deploying 2,000 charging points across Mexico City, the State of Mexico and Puebla to support the mass transition of public transport and taxi fleets.

To accommodate the rollout, federal authorities are collaborating with the Ministry of Economy to draft a new regulatory framework specifically governing low- and medium-speed urban vehicles. Furthermore, the vehicle's battery design incorporates a circular-economy strategy: power cells will be repurposed for residential energy storage before undergoing final chemical recycling at processing facilities in Sonora.

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