India, which houses four percent of the world’s water resources and 18 percent of the world’s population, ranks 13th among the 17 worst affected countries in Aqueduct 3.0 Country Rankings 2019 lists. It is the world’s biggest extractor of groundwater — more than China and the US combined — accounting for almost a quarter of the total extracted globally. Between 2000 and 2017 its groundwater depletion increased by as much as 23 percent. Generally, the annual per capita water availability of less than 1,700 cubic meters is considered a water-stressed condition. If this number is below 1,000 cubic meters, it is regarded as a water scarcity condition. Its highly alarming that for India, the utilisable per capita water availability which stood at 938 cubic meters in 2010 is expected to drop to 814 cubic meters by 2025, says National Institute of Hydrology.

About 200,000 Indians die every year due to inadequate access to safe water and 600 million face high to extreme water stress, as reported by NITI Aayog. The groundwater resources that account for 40 percent of India’s water supply are being depleted at unsustainable rates directing the need to adopt efficient water management measures in both residential and industrial areas. Nearly 163 million of India’s population of 1.3 billion lack access to clean water close to home, according to a report by WaterAid. Given this scenario, it is incumbent upon both the Government and the citizens, to find ways to address and avert the crisis.

Excessive Industrial water consumption

The world’s population is expected to expand by another 40-50% over the next 50 years (Source: World Water Council). Currently, India’s industrial sector is already the second-highest consumer of water, and their current usage in India is about 13 percent of the total freshwater withdrawal in the country. This water demand for industrial uses and energy production is expected to grow at a rate of 4.2 percent per year, rising from 67 billion cubic metres in 1999 to 228 billion cubic metres by 2025. Here, it’s critical to note that industrial water demand is not negligible in India and that it is bound to grow in the coming years. Experts opine that poor water pricing is one of the main reasons for its inefficient use by the industrial sector. It’s essential that for a water-stressed country like India, the efficiency of utilisation in all the industrial uses of water should be optimised and an awareness of water as a scarce resource should be fostered. The key to the problem lies in the effective management of the water through the deployment of tech advanced smart meters that allow real-time insights to be drawn and acted upon immediately.

Automotive Industry

Efficient water management is becoming an increasingly important issue in sustainable vehicle manufacturing. The automotive industry is one of the major consumers of water, and according to some estimates, over 40,000 gallons of water is used in the process of manufacturing a car. In the automobile assembly lines, water is used throughout a variety of process and production stages where vehicles are treated, washed, rinsed and painted.

The Indian automobile industry is expected to reach $300 Bn by 2026 at a CAGR of 15 percent. It is vital to deploy advanced smart water management technologies to track and reduce process water usage. The technology roadmap for energy reduction in automotive manufacturing should have smart water meter deployment as a key point. These would help manufacturers understand the water usage pattern and make informed decisions to use it more judiciously, thereby reducing the overall energy usage and cost factor.

Since water is used in nearly every stage of the auto manufacturing process in the automotive industry, concerns must be raised around how these plants can reduce global water use significantly. The most conducive solution would be deploying smart water metering solutions due to a number of benefits that they have to offer:

Power bank of Information/data log- Valuable statistical data and information about the water volume and flow, temperature, pressure information is stored and available in the integrated data loggers. These non-invasive temperature readings and optional integrated pressure measurement help network operators to maintain water quality and balance pressure levels in their pipe network.

Lifetime Maintenance-free with long-term battery life- With more than ten years of battery life and in-built static technologies, some static water meters solutions are maintenance-free over its entire operational lifetime.

Improved and better performance- Consumption patterns of commercial and industrial customers often involve fluctuations between low flow rates and continuously high flow rates. These smart meters are designed to be extra sensitive both at high and low flow rates so the alarm can be raised quickly and efficiently in case of pipe burst/ leakage/reverse flow/tampering attempts.

Interestingly, many of the large automobile players have understood the risk of undue water usage. Water management has started to become a top priority in manufacturing plants for them. The OEMs and associated automotive suppliers globally are constantly introducing and expanding methods to conserve water.

Government Initiatives

Governments and regulatory bodies are looking to encourage smarter systems, greener environmental standards and demanding cost targets to restrict the impact on their citizens. Smart water networks, energy reduction targets, a growing population and the effects of climate change are driving new business models and regulatory demands for the Government nowadays. Remote data collection and exchange is growing exponentially and long-established methods and practices are being relooked at – which is offering immense opportunities to utilities to drive operational efficiency. Smart water management, as outlined above, helps the Government, cities & water utilities to improve their infrastructure and enhance the quality of customer service/engagement.

Smart water meter application in industries will help water companies improve customer experience by providing instant, accurate information on everything from billing to queries about service, as and when it’s needed. Providing more data would mean enabling more contact with the customer, fostering a closer relationship.

Road Ahead

Right now, water conservation needs to be a strategic priority for vehicle manufacturers. Considering a majority of areas that operate in are water-stressed, eliminating potable water use to the maximum extent, should be the main motto. Both automobile assembly plants and parts manufacturers need to come forward and adopt water management infrastructure within their processing plants to increase water usage efficiency and minimise discharge volumes. Changing the water footprint of car manufacturers is important.

Water is shaping up to be a serious economic risk in Asia’s third-largest economy. Desertification, land degradation and drought cost India about 2.54 percent of the gross domestic product in 2014-15, according to an India’s environment ministry study. Another global survey of miners in 2018 (CDP), stated that water-related problems such as droughts, increased water stress, and flooding would necessitate a financial impact worth USD 11.8 billion over the next five years. Smart water meters can help India win the water crisis battle faster. The smart water meter market in India is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 14.7 percent during 2019-2025 as per Frost & Sullivan Report.

While the Government have been making significant efforts to make India the best water management nation in the world, the need to work towards a digital, smart and resilient water economy to enhance the water management system– is vital! (MT)

NB: Amit Vaidya is Director, India – Metrology Business, Sensus; views expressed are personal

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Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in collaboration with industry partners, have published a study in Nature Communications demonstrating that reconfigurable battery pack architectures can extend electric vehicle battery operational life by more than 20 percent under specific conditions.

In conventional electric vehicle battery packs, cells are wired in a fixed series configuration, meaning the weakest cell dictates the overall capacity, performance and lifespan of the entire pack. The architecture evaluated by the Chalmers engineering team uses integrated electronic switches and a centralised battery management system to monitor individual cells or cell groups. When a cell experiences accelerated degradation or reduced capacity, the system bypasses the degraded unit while electric current continues to flow through the remaining functional cells.

Albert Skegro, a PhD student at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, said, "They must all move at the pace of the slowest person and stop when that person stops, regardless of how much energy the others have left. With the architecture we have modelled, the battery can instead bypass the cell that is causing problems and continue using the remaining cells."

Changfu Zou, Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Chalmers, said, "Reconfiguration is not an on-or-off choice. It is a spectrum. Where a manufacturer chooses to position itself on that spectrum determines how much of the potential benefit can be realised."

In a representative modelling scenario featuring an 80 kWh battery pack driven 12,000 kilometres annually over an 18.8-year vehicle lifespan, the reconfigurable system deferred battery replacement by approximately 14 months. The researchers noted that the technology yields the highest performance gains in high-voltage vehicles, including 400-volt and 800-volt electric passenger cars and commercial trucks, where higher cell counts in series increase the statistical probability of individual cell variance.

A techno-economic analysis included in the study determined that implementing cell-level switching hardware increases initial pack production costs by approximately nine per cent based on prototype-scale volumes of 1,000 units. The researchers identified an economic break-even threshold at a 12 percent cost increase, noting that volume manufacturing would lower component costs and increase financial viability for fleet operators and private owners. While prototype applications such as Volvo Cars' SmartCell concept and experimental road vehicles exist, mass-production vehicles using reconfigurable battery packs are yet to enter the commercial market.

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Jakson Green Vehicles has selected Dassault Systèmes’ cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform to manage the design and development of its electric vehicles.

The implementation establishes a collaborative engineering framework to maintain digital continuity across the product development lifecycle. By connecting internal teams and external suppliers, the platform automates workflows, standardises component libraries and manages engineering change requests during early-stage product design. Virtual twin capabilities allow the vehicle manufacturer to conduct virtual validation testing to resolve structural and systems design issues prior to physical manufacturing.

Deepak Thakur, CEO, Jakson Green Vehicles, said, "Using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Platform enables us to apply a collaborative approach and re-engineer our product lifecycle from the ground up. Through this transition from legacy environments to a unified digital thread, it enables strong R&D to achieve twin objectives; accelerated time-to-market and mitigated development costs. This partnership is helping us to transform the early-stage innovation and product design processes."

Deepak NG, Managing Director – India, Dassault Systèmes, said, "As India continues its dynamic growth trajectory, virtual twin technology serves as a powerful catalyst for sustainable innovation, empowering industries to rethink how they design, produce and operate."

The software adoption forms part of Jakson Green Vehicles' plan to build urban zero-emission mobility vehicles and infrastructure across India.

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UK-headquartered energy technology company Gelion has entered into a material transfer agreement with a top 15 global automotive original equipment manufacturer to assess its NES cathode platform for future electric vehicle battery applications.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gelion will supply its sulfur-based cathode active material, coated cathodes and liquid electrolyte to the automotive partner. The manufacturer will evaluate the platform in both liquid and solid electrolyte cell configurations, testing compatibility across lithium metal and graphitic anode pathways targeting luxury and mass-market vehicle applications. The technology is designed to serve as a drop-in cathode material capable of integration into existing battery manufacturing lines without re-tooling.

Matt Wood, Chief Executive Officer, Gelion, said, "Our priority markets are commercial & defence drones, EVs and devices. We are honoured to be working with these major global automotive OEMs, and today’s announcement marks further progress towards the adoption of our technology and the generation of commercial revenues via funded programmes and eventually license and royalty revenue in the global EV market, alongside some of the industry’s leading companies."

"The growing engagement from global EV manufacturers reinforces the potential and attractiveness of our NES™ technology. This momentum is also mirrored in our agreements and partnerships across drones and devices, while our work with Tier 1 materials suppliers is advancing the scale-up of our unique, patented battery materials," Wood added.

The agreement expands Gelion’s ongoing industry testing programs with automotive manufacturers, extending the assessment of its sulfur-based cathode platform across liquid and solid battery systems.

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Honda R&D, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., has developed underlying technology for a magnetic coupling wireless power transfer road system in partnership with Taisei Corporation and Taisei Rotec Corporation.

The system enables wireless in-motion charging for electric vehicles, including passenger cars and heavy commercial fleets. The partners plan to initiate demonstration testing on public roads starting in FY2027.

The technology integrates high-power-density receiver and transmitter units from Honda with a high-response direct current power supply system from Taisei and road-embedding construction techniques from Taisei Rotec. By supplying power to electric vehicles while in motion, dynamic wireless power transfer reduces the need for stationary charging infrastructure. The initial commercial focus targets logistics and transport operations, where continuous operation offers economic benefits.

The ground assembly embedded in the roadway combines the inverter and coil into a single unit designed to connect via direct current distribution. This design reduces component counts, simplifies wiring and supports installation into existing road surfaces through standard milling methods. The road pavement structures are engineered to withstand continuous traffic loads from vehicles weighing up to 20 tonnes (20,000kg).

Testing conducted at Taisei Group’s T-FIELD facility in Satte verified system stability and structural durability. Starting in late 2026, the companies will build a test roadway at T-FIELD Tamura to evaluate long-term durability under one million wheel-load cycles, measure power transfer efficiency at outputs up to 150 kW and analyse electromagnetic shielding.

The partnership will also join the Tateyama Expressway demonstration project managed by East Nippon Expressway Company starting in 2027.

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