[FourWheelDrift]

While browsing CleanTechnica and Inside EVs, I came across these articles, which quote from a press release from a new EV manufacturer :

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/19...wing-capacity/

https://insideevs.com/news/410334/tr...suv-700-miles/

An interesting titbit, reproduced verbatim below, made me read both articles :

"Patel says he is considering manufacturing the vehicles in India, where production costs are lower."

The information at both the above links was enough to pique further interest. So, i visited the company's website and the About Us section, to learn more about their chairman and founder HIMANSHU B. PATEL. The company is headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA.

https://www.tritonev.co/

https://www.tritonsolar.com/our-team/

The latter of the above 2 websites lists the following persons right next to the founder, as Ambassadors :

Sunil Shetty
Clive Lloyd
Sunil Gavaskar

It will be interesting to track developments at this company.

Cheers,

FourWheelDrift

[Eshan Joshi]

Adding some photos of the EV:






This looks like the 2021 Cadillac Escalade

[JJay]

According to website their "Global Corporate Ambassador" is "Sunil Shetty" and not Suniel Shetty (celebrity we expected ).
I have my doubts about their authenticity and doubts were getting stronger with their each claims. With no definite words on production and launch date (everything has been mentioned as "plans") to put it in softest term - I AM NOT EXCITED.

[FourWheelDrift]

These guys seem to have found their way to the Indian media now ...

https://www.businessinsider.in/busin...w/80442243.cms

An American electric car maker explains why it took a different route than Elon Musk’s Tesla, Tata Motors or Mahindra

Navdeep Yadav
Jan 25, 2021, 09:10 IST

Triton

# In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Triton CEO, Himanshu Patel revealed that the company is looking to invest around $650 million to $1 billion in setting up a manufacturing facility in India.

# Patel believes that the Triton N4 model will differ from what the current carmakers have in India.

# He further explained that the solar panel in their car could generate up to 1.3 kilowatts per hour, which will offset mileage losses. “By just doing this, we’re saving about close to 30% of the battery for being used during traffic times,” he added.

A US-based carmaker Triton is gearing up to enter India with its electric sedan N4, the same year as Elon Musk, and the company’s founder and CEO, Himanshu Patel, got candid in an exclusive interview with Business Insider.

“We’ve really talked through every component, like from the grid infrastructure to the conditions of the roads of India. We’re building the car based on every component of India’s infrastructure,” said Patel, who believes that the solar panel atop Triton’s cars give it the edge over its potential competitors in India.

The reason for Triton’s entry at this time is pretty evident. From, Elon Musk-led Tesla registering its Indian subsidiary in Bengaluru to Tatas planning a slew of EV launches in 2021 — everyone wants a bite of India’s booming EV industry. But Patel is confident because, according to him, “the Indian carmakers are just trying to make a very cheap price point to enter the market just like Tatas or any other manufacturers of India. I think that’s the wrong approach in my opinion.”

“In a majority of the cities people are sitting on an average four to five hours a day in traffic and you have extremely high heat during those times, what happens to your power consumption of your battery? It does chew it up because AC uses quite a bit of power. And, we use solar panel technology on the roof of our car to address that issue. I just think that you know a lot of those guys are not considering those things,” Patel said.

Triton is looking to invest around $650 million to $1 billion in setting up a manufacturing facility in India. The company is also in final stage discussion with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to assist it in the manufacturing for its battery, as well as our electronic components. The company is also in talks with different state authorities to set up its facility in India. However, the CEO declined to name those. The company is looking to start manufacturing its first vehicle in 3-6 months from now and aims to roll out the first car by the end of this year.

The promise of long battery life

He further explained that the solar panel in their car could generate up to 1.3 kilowatts per hour, reducing the AC from 3 KW draw to 1.3 KW draw. “This offsets the losses of mileage or kilometers in India. By just doing this, we’re saving about close to 30% of the battery for being used during traffic times.”

The use of solar panels is not new to the EV industry, but it would be new for India. The Korean carmaker Hyundai has also used similar solar roofs in its Sonata Hybrid, which is expected to launch in February this year in India. The Sonata Hybrid is already available in the US and other global markets.

But would solar panels be enough to feed the battery alone?

Although the solar panel will reduce the battery’s load, it wouldn’t be enough for the car to operate on the solar panels alone. And, that is the pain point for the EV makers. The idea of going green looks promising, but the Indian EV infrastructure continues to be a big challenge for them. As of the latest data, India had 650 places where people could charge the EVs.
However, Patel revealed that they are in talks with many dealerships in major cities and other cities to set up their dealer facility to carry their EV fast chargers.

“And basically you know what our goal is to not only have multiple dealership outlets, but also, have satellite dealership outlets. So the satellite dealership outlets means that you have less infrastructure, but you have charging stations. We feel this is gonna be a very good starting point to get people to be able to get fast charging from ourselves as far as our building goals,” he said. Meanwhile, the company is also tying up with other charging companies in India cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat, Hyderabad and Karnataka.

[FourWheelDrift]

A couple more news articles, probably generated out of Himanshu Patel's recent interaction with Indian media in January 2021, mentioning a Rs. 35 lakh electric sedan ...

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/80213887.cms

https://gaadiwaadi.com/american-ev-m...with-n4-sedan/

An Oct 2020 press release mentioning a "100% Electric Full-Service 18-Wheeler Semi Truck" for the U.S. market ...

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...301159833.html ... do have a look at the video embedded inside.

[Pardus]

This looks like a fraud company. They are taking pre-orders without even showing a test vehicle. They have also listed complete line up of vehicles from 3 wheelers, Sedan, SUV/VAN and Trucks plus a solar home power system. All the images are just plain CGI copying most of the existing models.

[careind]

To believe or not to believe!
Seems they have showcased model H in Hyderabad if we go by this news.

https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto...099362198.html

[ADI7YAK]

Here's a blurry picture of their car posted on their "official" Instagram page. Pretty sure this thing doesn't move at all.



What I'm astonished by, is that they have the audacity to claim over $2 billion worth orders from India. Mega scam.

[kartavya]

Will be unearthed as a huge scam soon. To claim 2.5 billion USD orders is almost 19000 crores or orders. To put that into perspective, XUV700 has 9500 crores worth of orders. We have a company here who no one in India has heard of claiming to do better numbers than Mahindra. A lot of officials are going to be left red faced.
The graphics on their website are amateurish to say the least. The Twitter page is full of errors as well.

[careind]

Shouldn’t there be someone with even an iota of common sense in the government machinery? Unless the officials are in on it, it would be VERY difficult to perpetrate a scam of this level. Trading Some red face for a lot of greenbacks is a profitable compromise I guess!

[StarrySky]

Reminds me of this one: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...t-fiction.html (Mean Metal M-Zero: An Indian Supercar. Fact or Fiction?)

https://www.meanmetalmotors.com/

[Shresth_EV]

Call me a skeptic, but this gives me serious Freedom251 vibes, if at all the booking deposit claims are true (which I’m pretty sure they’re not)

Funnily, their insta handle is literally “realtritonev”, can’t argue with that, can we?

Electrek.co resonates similar feelings :

Electrek’s Take

First off, their range claim makes no sense whatsoever.

Triton claims that their giant electric SUV is going to have a 700-mile range on a 200 kWh battery pack, which is virtually impossible unless they are braking some laws of physics.

It adds up to an efficiency of 285 Wh per mile.

For comparison, a Tesla Model X, which is a much smaller and more aerodynamic SUV than the Triton Model H, will normally get closer to 350-400 Wh per mile depending on a few different factors.

Even if Triton has somehow leapfrogged Tesla’s efficiency, it’s virtually impossible for them to deliver a 5,300-lb SUV with this kind of form factor and achieve 700-mile of range on a 200 kWh battery pack.

In short, Triton has released a bunch of renders, which basically looks like a modified Suburban (they didn’t even bother to change the dimension – they are the same to the inch), and claimed a bunch of vaporware specs in order to collect reservations with extremely large deposits.

A word comes to mind. It rhymes with ‘ham’.

They shouldn’t be taken seriously despite their media coverage.