[volkman10]

M&M, Tata, Maruti to develop components for hybrid, e-vehicles.

In an encouraging initiative, the three companies are working on developing components and systems to ensure common standards, besides helping to drive down costs.

Although all the three carmakers are working on common standards for all components and systems, each of them will have their own software IP's

http://www.indiainfoline.com/article...2200195_1.html

[Pam81]

This is a welcome move for sure. It will be very much appreciable if this trio try to work out indigenous battery packs and controllers than importing from China. That way, the critical energy storage technology can be developed for automotive use in India. We can believe that software is really good skill in India but when comes to Automotive applications and systems engineering (linking the function of muti-disciplinary engineering / sciences) we still lag behind Europe and Americas. The SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle System) from Suzuki is engineered in Japan and it is applied in Ciaz. E2O may be engineered by India but it lacks the scale. For the time being, IC engines are still dominant with energy density and portability while the electric drivetrain continuously evolving.

[shortbread]

Mahindra are competing in Formula E followed by Tata's entry next season with Jaguar. This season teams are allowed to develop their own power-trains and from the next season their own battery packs. I think track competition will help evolve the technology faster. Things will not happen overnight but we will see race applications trickle into road cars in due course.

[turbospooler]

The biggest benefit of these 3 companies coming together for this will mean STANDARDIZATION. Once an industry standard is established, customers will not be wary as switching costs will be minimized. Also, standardization in say, charging ports and batteries will ensure supply of components as well as infrastructure for charging to be widespread.

[GTO]

Fantastic move!

This is also the first time that the 3 Indian car makers are collaborating on a technology. I know for a fact that they were worried because Toyota, Ford, Honda etc. have big international R&D efforts on hybrid & electric vehicles. When the market swings toward them, Maruti et al didn't want to be caught with their pants down.

This will help with costs, speed, standardisation etc. They just had to, this is a smart move & I'm very happy to read the news. Neither of them have the resources or budget to do it alone. Plus, there's the matter of shared risk. If tomorrow, hydrogen cars gain in popularity, well, they could collaborate on that too.

Originally Posted by shortbread

Mahindra are competing in Formula E followed by Tata's entry next season with Jaguar.

Originally Posted by turbospooler

The biggest benefit of these 3 companies coming together for this will mean STANDARDIZATION. Once an industry standard is established, customers will not be wary as switching costs will be minimized.

Brilliant points, thanks for sharing .

[Venku2015]

Originally Posted by volkman10

M&M, Tata, Maruti to develop components for hybrid, e-vehicles.

In an encouraging initiative, the three companies are working on developing components and systems to ensure common standards, besides helping to drive down costs.



http://www.indiainfoline.com/article...2200195_1.html

A great initiative indeed by the three giant home grown companies and this will keep the foreign brands at the bay since this will give birth to cost effective products/solutions from the joint venture.

Originally Posted by turbospooler

The biggest benefit of these 3 companies coming together for this will mean STANDARDIZATION. Once an industry standard is established, customers will not be wary as switching costs will be minimized. Also, standardization in say, charging ports and batteries will ensure supply of components as well as infrastructure for charging to be widespread.

Very true, and this standardization will also keep the cost of spares and maintenance in check plus the convenience of wide spread network of all 3 brands if they are planning in that direction too.

[hnp]

This is a great move and these companies are better placed to understand Indian needs and build specific technology to fulfil our needs (taking cue from the EV thread). They can also push mass adoption. Hopefully by my next car upgrade cycle it will be an EV :-)

[Pratik Chavan]

Great Move by the Indian Auto giants. This will ensure relevant synergies exchanged among the three. Example- M&M would be able to use a lot of learnings from Reva, Tata's world class R&D infrastructure should be an asset, and others.

[ACM]

Superb News. They do collectively have the ability to take on the biggest manufacturers globally especially with the Indian way of doing things much more cost effectively.

[Asish_VK]

Just Brilliant !

As these Indian automotive giants joins, its going to be a formidable force that nobody can ignore. I hope they do achieve something great. I'm sure they will. Hey we are the guys who did the mars mission in a fraction of a hollywood movie budget !

[14000rpm]

Would be interesting to see if they are willing to invest in R&D for Battery Technology. that is the Game changer.

[Mortis]

Great move ! I'm really hoping that my next car, purchased within 2 years time will be a hybrid. Low cost, well engineered and standardized versions of this technology is the need of the hour.

[arpanguha]

@14000rpm

Correctly said. Battery, battery management, controller, etc. technology will be the game changer.

What would be great to see is, since Tesla has planned to set up a Giga-factory in India and Indian customs makes it impossible for Tesla to sell CBU cars tractably, if these auto makers go ahead and sign a non-compete with Elon Musk.

Also, the two wheeler segment also is looking at similar solutions, though currently non-deployable due to their prohibitive cost.

But there is also a chance that TATA may dip their hands in Jaguar R&D (remember CX-75) http://www.jaguar.in/about-jaguar/co...cars/cx75.html and get some cool stuff.

[bkc]

Good move by the collaborating. My uncle was importing E-vehicle parts from China and assembling it during years 2006-2007. He managed to sell the first batch but the business failed due to unreliable parts.

The Chinese chargers used to blast or stop working. Sometimes, the batteries used to swell or the wires used to melt. It was not viable to carry all the maintenance cost and break-even analysis made showed that profits are not be made in near future. There were no common ‘spares’ available to service them and entire controller had to be imported.

I wish we do not rely on Chinese technology. If three majors are working together, it is likely to have some swappable parts. (Like my brother’s Punto MJD was serviced using some Maruti DDIS spares). Sourcing parts would be easy for us consumers.

[VeluM]

Is this is part of the FAME initiative, which along with Make in India aims to encourage the development of EV tech internally rather than importing vehicles and tech? Good move for the major players in India to come together for standardisation so that infrastructure can be shared and implemented at a lower cost.

Having said that, I hope that they will take advantage of the IP free technology (such as research by Tesla) that is available, and not try to reinvent the wheel. We can then hope to make use of the supercharger networks available (by then) across the rest of the world