Shree Ranga, President – Automotive Business, Lucas TVS, spoke about the company’s product strategy and other developments on the sidelines of Bharat Mobility International Expo 2025.

What is exciting at Lucas TVS currently that would shape the future of automobiles?
Lucas TVS makes 12 to 15 million motors. It is the largest motor manufacturer in India. The company is producing many types of motors besides those of starters and alternators. This includes EPS motors, ABS motors, smart wiper motors, compressor motors, electric driven oil less vacuum pump and more. Lucas TVS also makes hub motors for electric two and three-wheelers. It has also taken to making batteries as allied products. Besides a vast portfolio of automotive products, the company is contemplating the manufacture of parts for home appliances. Focus is on parts that will it an edge as a manufacturer of various types of motors in terms of energy efficiency. Lucas TVS is entering into BLDC motors. The company has entered into sensors and is concentrating on controllers. 

How are you looking to explore the electrification trend in automobiles?
Many of the customers in the four-wheeler segments are focusing on doing a lot of things internally where in the electric two and three-wheeler segments the manufacturers are looking at outsourcing. Lucas TVS is focusing on providing such manufacturers cutting edge technology solutions. The company is focusing on two and three-wheeler electric vehicles as the manufacturer of electric four-wheelers are getting involved themselves fully. 

On the motors front for electric vehicles, how is the technology evolving?
PMSM has its own advantages and BLDC motor has its own advantages in terns of technology and application. A PMSM motor is more efficient than a BLDC motor and requires less magnet. BLDC motors, on the other hand, require rare earth magnets. PMSM is preferred for higher torque and higher power. Currently, the focus is on BLDC motor for the two and three-wheeler segments. Even the compressor motors that Lucas TVS makes are BLDC in nature. They also ensure high energy efficiency and are used in high end vehicles. A lot of effort is currently being put at Lucas TVS to enhance the energy efficiency of its products. Every product that the company is making is with an emphasis on best and highest energy efficiency irrespective of whether it is a motor or a generator. With a focus on providing smart and intelligent features, the stress is on providing mechatronic products as well. Lucas TVS is combining its skill sets in electrical and electronics engineering to provide mechatronic solutions. It wants to be looked upon as a provider of mechatronic solutions. The company is also open to work with any four-wheeler OEM in developing electric traction motor solutions. The market is transforming and the penetration of electrification in more in two and three-wheelers. It is therefore that Lucas TVS is working more rigorously. 

Aren’t home appliances a curious case of diversification for Lucas TVS? 
Lucas TVS knows what is a BLDC motor. Today, 70 to 80 percent of the ceiling fans employ induction motors at a time when sustainability and efficiency are the most spoken about terms. The focus at Lucas TVS therefore is to take to the common man a technology that will ensure the most efficiency in the form of a BLDC motor rather than an induction motor, which is less efficient. Almost 50 to 60 percent electricity can be saved. The push into non-automotive side of things will be under the brand name of TVS Green.  Whatever appliances are used in a house and can ensure higher efficiency and less costs, Lucas TVS is focusing on under TVS Green. Considering the fact that a BLDC motor can be expensive to manufacture, what the company is looking at doing is to use its ability to produce motors at a large scale. This will enable it to offer such solutions as BLDC motor powered ceiling fans to the households at competitive prices. The price difference could be no more than 15-20 percent than that of an induction motor powered ceiling fan. TVS Green has started as one small division. The company is confident that it will grow quickly. This will also mark a B2C avenue as compared to many of our other business verticals which are B2B in nature. 

From a supplier view point, how do you look at the electric two and three-wheeler business?
Today, most young people and women are choosing to buy electric vehicles. The market therefore is growing at a very fast pace. With the acceptability being quite good, it is the plug and play nature of the vehicles that is aiding their proliferation. The market for such vehicles will grow. There are players who were into motor manufacture for long and have exited. It is a highly competitive marketplace. What Lucas TVS is doing is to compete with key players. It is doing the necessary investments to grow in India at eight to 12 percent. This rate of growth is more than the growth rate of the industry. One may want to consider the fact that the transformation from ICE to electric vehicles that was envisages five years ago has not been attained. The attention of ICE side of business therefore continues in line with the philosophy: ‘Last man standing’.  The company still makes parts for cars that are 30-year-old. Every customer is treated with the same respect. The growth has been very good and Lucas TVS continues to capture market share. Given the China plus one situation, the company has started to look at exports after finding that solutions from India are being looked at in Europe and US. Lucas TVS is working to address this demand. For the next fifteen years at least, ICE business for the company will continue to do well. On the other hand, Lucas TVS continues to increase its presence in various motor applications including sunroof motors, ESP, ABS motors etc. Lucas TVS – for two-wheeler segment – has been producing sensors and instrument clusters. Its group company makes magnetos, generators, clusters, fuel injection equipment etc. The latest product development includes the ISG, which is a starter-generator, electric two-wheeler ancillaries such as DC-DC convertor. Work is going on in the area of software with some companies in Europe but it is too early to speak about that. 

You spoke about investments. What areas of the business are they regarding, 
In the ICE business, investments of INR 2.5 billion to INR three billion have been made in the last three-four years. Another INR 1.5 billion to INR two billion investment has gone into the making of various motors such as the sunroof motors, ABS motors, tractor motors etc. In the last four-to-five years, Lucas TVS has invested around INR five billion.  

 So what is the growth outlook for the near to mid-term?
There are a lot of opportunities. The ambition is to move fast and tap them. On the exports front, India looks to be better off geopolitically. Lucas TVS has set up an office in Europe and US to tap those markets. Lot of enquires have been received. Lot of interest has been generated. A separate team is working on that front. 

As the world relies more on technology and data to tackle different situations or to streamline processes, loopholes exist inevitably. Orbitsys leverages its cloud-based platform, allowing centralisation of data along with remote access for the automotive industry to tackle dealerships and hurdles.

“We tackle connectivity and data hurdles in the automotive industry by offering a cloud-based platform. This allows dealerships and OEMs to centralise data, which eliminates scattered systems, creating a single source of trusted data for customer and vehicle information. Moreover, accessing data remotely enables secure, role-based and real-time data visibility across multiple locations, improving decision-making,” informed Harvinder Pal Singh, Chief Business Officer, Orbitsys DMS.

Dr Amitabh Saran reveals Altigreen’s plans for the ASEAN market and talks about ESG goals and more.

As part of Altigreen’s plans to enter the passenger vehicle market, do you plan to hire fresh talent?
Sometimes start-ups land up doing a lot of things at the same time. The money runs out because a start-up starts with one problem and migrates to a completely different problem. Sometimes it starts adding all kinds of features to its products. For example, by entering the passenger space, we are clear that we cannot do this with the existing funds that we have. That’s because it’s clear that we need to have more teams, a different space etc. Also, we will be in a position to hire more talent and have a separate line entirely for passenger vehicles within the same factory. Besides, we have ensured that there will be ‘common-isation’ of platforms where skills can be achieved. So we are in the process of hiring talent.

What are your plans for charging solutions/infrastructure?
We are very clear that we are a vehicle OEM and do not build charging infrastructure. However, we do partner with a lot of charging companies who are building this infrastructure. We ensure that we are working with them, where we go hand-in-hand and everyone benefits. I have always believed that we need to do this as an ecosystem approach.

What are your plans for the ASEAN market? 
We have always said that Altigreen focuses on India and the emerging markets. The emerging markets are South Asia, Africa and South America. The ASEAN market is very important to us, especially because one of our investors comes from Singapore, and they are going to help us a lot in our progress in ASEAN countries. Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore are four places where we have already been seeing a lot of demand coming, in both passenger and cargo three-wheelers.

A major concern around EVs is high cost. How do you plan to tackle it?
To promote cell manufacturing and electronic component manufacturing in India, the government has created the PLI, wherein even other companies are participants. Each of them will be making cells, and I think they will start creating cells made in India and for Indian conditions, 2024 onwards. That will bring down cell prices and we will see more parity.

Is it that the younger generation, which is interested in purchasing EVs, is unable to do so on account of costs?
I don’t think so. Gen Z may be more inclined to exploring new things. But it’s not like every kid on the block is driving/riding an EV. I think it’s the convenience, which people find as a great alternative and as long as the use case is the same.

How is Altigreen meeting India’s ESG goals?
Over the last nine years, we have been doing a lot of R&D. Our focus was never on the paradigms of ESG or how we fit into it. But we ensure that we are doing everything to make sure that we are focusing on a sustainability paradigm. For example, if one looks at our motor design, they will see that we chose that there will be no magnets in it. Not just because the import of magnets should not be encouraged but also because we want to ensure that the motors are serviceable and manufacturable. Therefore, we have been very conscious about this. Moving forward, now that we are in expansion mode, we have an entire ESG section. Battery recycling is also something that we are working on. We do believe that the batteries that come out of EVs should not be thrown away. They have a very strong use case in solar and other areas, where we have already started working.

Prashanth Doreswamy talks about future learning in the automotive industry, the company’s sustainability goals and how the future belongs to autonomous vehicles.

As an auto-parts manufacturer, how do you think automakers can prepare for the future of mobility?
The consumer would like to see the car as an extended IoT device. That’s because this is all driven by consumer preferences, except for electrification; electrification is driven more by regulations and the government. However, other trends like connected or autonomous are more consumerdriven. We have been seeing a lot of comfort in our homes and offices. Today, consumers expect to see that comfort inside a car because a car has become an extended living space.

With electrification, will jobs become obsolete for small auto-parts manufacturers? Can you tell us the work you’re doing in T-shaped skills?
I don’t think jobs will become obsolete. But this is a transformation that, as tier 1s and tier 2s, we will have to evolve with over a period of time. I’m sure that there are a lot of opportunities, because with EVs, while the number of components is decreasing, a lot of other content is increasing. How we reshape ourselves through this will be a challenge for every company. That’s where the differentiation will come from – who is spending more on R&D. Because whatever is spent on R&D today is not for today but for tomorrow. Those who spend more on R&D innovation are going to drive the future, and that’s something that Continental also strongly believes in.

When we talk of T-shaped skills, we’d like to develop people’s skill sets on the broader side as well as on particular segments, deep into the subject. There are a lot of programmes for this, one being the software academy that we began in around 2017-2018. You can’t put the millennials and Gen Zs just into a classroom; their way of learning is much different. That’s how these course curriculums are being designed.

Do you see autonomous cars happening at all?
Autonomous is always a challenge; it is not just a vehicle ready with all the technologies, but an ecosystem. A lot of things have to come in sync. There are certain hurdles and it’s taking a little longer than expected, but we strongly believe that the future is going to be autonomous.

While working with OEMs, the development time of a product is typically three years, and then the vehicle will be available in another six years. How do you make sure that technology is still relevant till then?
This is why we do a lot of research in terms of understanding the technology landscape and the consumer preferences. Not only within the automotive industry, but we do benchmark with a lot of adjacent industries as well. All of this is taken care of in the product planning process. At the same time, we look at how we can upgrade to the latest technology without modifying anything.

In terms of surface solutions, what alternatives are you looking at for leather (for seats) so that animals are not killed?
The surface solution that we have is an alternative for leather. It is at a much lower cost and gives the feel of a leather. It is much more durable than leather and meets all the other interior requirements. This application goes from the seating to the armrest to cockpit assemblies.

Can you tell us about some of Continental Automotive’s sustainability goals?
We are one of the first auto-component manufacturers to come up with a bold promise, which was made in December 2019. We made four promises. The first is that we’ll be carbon neutral across the value chain (from raw materials to the disposal) by 2050 and our operations will be carbon neutral by 2040. From December 2020, all of our 540+ manufacturing operations – including India – have been using only green power. The second is zero tailpipe emissions. The third is that we’ll achieve 95 percent circular economy by 2030 – whatever we use will be reused and recycled. The fourth is that we will be a responsible value chain.

What will shape the automotive parts and the automotive sector this year?
We’ll see a huge growth in electronics inside the car. There will be more connected features and ADAS functions. Besides, the industry will migrate from small cars to bigger sized cars, including SUVs, which is good news for the industry. We’ll still continue to have some challenges on the semiconductor parts. This crisis will come to an end sometime in the mid of 2024, maybe.

Hygge Energy has developed a marketplace for local players to trade renewable energy.

The last decade has witnessed a gradual transformation of the Indian mobility space. The influx of electric vehicles (EV) has added to this change. It has also aptly highlighted the adaptation of modern technology by the auto industry, among others, to close the gap between EVs and IC-engine vehicles.

With stress being laid on the creation of an efficient infrastructure, albeit in the form of enough charging solutions, efforts are being made to ensure early adoption of EVs as well as a sustainable user experience. Designing a software to unlock the monetary potential of renewable energy with an eye on EVs and terming it as ‘Zero Emission Electric Mobility’, Hygge Energy has developed a marketplace that paves the way for local players to trade renewable energy. It is an initiative that will be set up at CNG stations. In this direction, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Think Gas.

Prateek Saxena, Founder and CEO of Hygge Energy, mentioned, “The Indian EV charging business faces three major problems: the electrical grid is not resilient enough to allow charging; the grid energy mix is not renewables-centric, and hence the charging source is not renewablebased in any manner; and buying grid energy is not profitable for charging operators. When chargers are set up, the grid requires very costly upgrades. The resulting increased transformer size causes higher sanctioned load and electricity bills as well. The load factor on the grid is too high; as the demand peaks for EV charging, the grid often does not have the capacity to support it. There is also a lack of aggregation of carbon credits. The individual EV charging station operators are not in a position to consolidate carbon credits for monetisation. Our solution addresses all of these problems.”

Zero Emission Electric Mobility was designed with three essential objectives in mind: charging EVs using renewable energy; promoting zero-emissions mobility; and no upgrades for grid infrastructure, hence avoiding delays and expenses. This will decrease grid load dependency for charging stations by over 80 percent and improve grid resiliency.

Hygge’s solution is supported by an end-to-end immersive EV charging mobile app that facilitates the entire charging experience for both the driver as well as the charging station owner.

The platform
The platform addresses the lack of aggregation of carbon credits as well. As the platform will source renewable energy for EV charging, it will be used for maximising carbon credits for companies like Think Gas in the clean fuel business, informed the executive.

Hygge Energy enables entrepreneurs and large corporates interested in investing in the EV charging business to make money. The platform is plug-and-play. It instantaneously connects EV charging stations to next-gen technology, including IoT devices embedded with artificial intelligence and blockchain that reduce cost of operation, and an immersive EV charging app that drives traffic.

Hygge’s technology allows EV operators to become profitable at a very low cost. “We partner for long term with operators, and this association lasts throughout the lifecycle so that we can support their operations related to pricing, policy, regulation and technology,” said Saxena.

Bridging the gap
Hygge’s EV charging system is supported by a next-gen charging app that enables owners to book, reserve and pay for charging time slots in advance, avoiding waiting time and disappointments because of not getting a charging spot and chaos at charging sites. End-to-end planning and scheduling of EV charging will also allow EV owners to overcome the hurdle of range anxiety.

The gamified and community-centric app will enable like-minded individuals to come together and exchange ideas for creating a greener future. Zero Emission Electric Mobility is a highly adaptable system that provides 100 percent clean energy e-mobility by ensuring that EV charging is done with renewable energy, thereby allowing environmentally conscious EV owners to be in charge of their energy usage and carbon footprint.

Hygge’s charging app also enables tracking of payments as well as carbon credits earned by users each time they utilise Hygge’s network. This will open up access to an INR 750 billion carbon trading market for renewables-based EV charging.

“Now our end users also include drivers of CNG vehicles. Think Gas requested us to improve the customer experience at their CNG filling stations by using our EV charging app for providing a similar experience for CNG drivers. Our app for CNG users includes advance booking, cashless payment and loyalties, like our EV solution,” informed the CEO.

Zero emission transportation
Electric vehicle charging using coal-heavy grid power emits 50 times more carbon than doing it using solar photovoltaic solutions. Zero Emission Electric Mobility ensures that all EV charging is done using renewable energy as opposed to using other available energy sources, thereby drastically reducing the greenhouse emissions.

The system is facilitated by Hygge’s proprietary customer premises IoT device called the Hygge Box, which operates on embedded machine learning-based artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. It enables tracking, measurement, optimisation, allocation and accounting of renewable energy, hence ensuring that electric vehicles are primarily charged with clean renewable energy.

Zero Emission Electric Mobility is a highly adaptable system that provides completely clean e-mobility. The platform can not only be integrated to any EV charging or battery swapping system but also provides truly zero-emission transportation by ensuring the use of low-cost renewable energy for charging EVs and batteries.

The partnership
Zero Emission Electric Mobility (complete with the Hygge Box and Hygge Energy’s EV charging app), as well as Hygge Energy’s app for CNG filling, will initially be installed at a Think Gas CNG station in Uttar Pradesh, followed by other locations under discussion. This will be a big step by Hygge towards unlocking a USD 15 billion carbon trading market for service providers offering CNG and EV charging services in India, which will make these businesses profitable.

Hygge’s platform is integrated with on-site or off-site renewable energy and the distribution grid infrastructure. It enables tracking, measurement, optimisation, allocation and accounting of energy. This ensures that all renewable energy is directed towards EV charging. In the absence of EV charging, this energy can be redirected to other applications for maximum utilisation and savings on electricity bills. It also avoids the additional load that EV charging infrastructure puts on distribution transformers. As a result, renewable energy e-mobility can be accommodated without the need for additional investments in grid infrastructure.