Non-availability of charging stations is always blamed for the slow adaption of electric vehicles in India. However, the limited numbers of EVs running on the road keep charging station companies in limbo. For charging station operators, especially private ones, aggressive business investments are still a big gamble. However, according to Varun Chaturvedi, MD & CEO, Volttic, charging stations’ numbers depend on EVs’ penetration in India. “Instead of discussing the classic chicken and egg problem and comparing the Indian EV market with the western market, we need to understand the penetration of EVs and charging stations will happen simultaneously,” says Chaturvedi.

The electric vehicle charging stations market is expected to exceed more than USD 30 billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 40%. As per a rough estimation, currently, there are around 1,000 Bharat DC001 charging stations and over 1,000 Bharat AC001 charging stations are available in India.

The Indian Government also announced its intention to set up at least one e-charging kiosk at around 69,000 petrol stations across India.

Volttic is a leading charge point operator (CPO) in India running EV charging stations pan India. The company provides complete end-to-end EV charging solutions for home and commercial segments.

“Volttic focuses a business strategy which benefits for all- OEs, EV owners and us,” adds Chaturvedi.

The company is consciously setting up EV charging stations with customised solutions on demand in the country. “Rather than putting charging infrastructures where nobody comes, we are tying up with people who are ready to use our solutions,” he explains.

The company is currently focusing on fleet operators, which Chaturvedi predicts, will have faster growth in India when it comes to the EV adoption. As of now, Volttic’s dedicated charging and public charging stations ratio is 80 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

In the B2B segment, Volttic’s clients are employee transporters, while in the B2C, the company serves taxi fleets.

“We are strategically deploying our charging stations to relieve our customers from range anxiety and carry smooth transportation without breakdown,” he says.

Having a background of electrical engineering, his core expertise is in electrical equipment, chargers, batteries, and the power sector. Elaborating his decision to venture into the EV charging station business, he says, “In 2016-17, there were hardly any players in the EV charging station business, though it was gaining momentum in Europe and the US. The charging station business was relatively new in India then, and everybody had to start from scratch, which provided equal challenges and opportunities. Being an entrepreneur, you should adopt a business where you have the expertise and control over the technologies. We knew the EV charging station will mostly evolve on as a service.”

Volttic’s Co-founder, Surendar Pratap Singh, too comes from the electric background, while the other co-founder, Shweta Chaturvedi, hails from the software industry. “Having the background of hardware and software, we are completely self-dependent in the EV charging supply chain,” Chaturvedi adds.

However, challenges are larger in deploying public EV charging stations compared with dedicated ones. Explaining the challenges further, Chaturvedi says, “Generally, two to three days are needed to set up a dedicated EV charging station in a corporate premise as most of the infrastructure such as power supply, wiring and parking space is readily available. However, when it comes to a public domain, we have to spend months scouting a location, then getting power supply from DISCOM takes time as well.”

EV charging takes more time than gasoline refuelling, and EV consumers expect to have charging station points at their preferred locations, time, and price to avoid range anxiety. Chaturvedi added that public EV charging stations should be deployed in public spaces such as malls, restaurants, hotels, shopping complexes and others where they can indulge in other recreational activities while the vehicles are being charged.

The company provides technology-oriented solutions consist of Bharat DC01 & Bharat AC01, CCS2 Chargers & ChadeMo Chargers to serve the clients’ needs. Currently, it operates around 123 charging points AC/ DC mix and plans to order around 50 double guns fast chargers with 100 charging points in the next couple of months. In the next five years by 2025, Volttic aims to have around 5,000 plus machines with double guns. “So, if we talk about charging points, we will have between 10,000 plus charging points in the next five years,” adds Chaturvedi. The company is in the process of executing an order of USD1 million in the next few months.

On the policy side, he urges a push for private charging players as well. Last year the Government had given in-principle approval to firms, including NTPC, EESL and REIL, to set up 2,600 EV charging stations.

“Last time, under the FAME-II, subsidies were given to EV charging stations operated by PSUs. This time too, an Expression of Interest (EoI) has been invited for highways and expressways.” However, he advocates that the EV ecosystem should not only depend on subsidies. “We need to come out from the mindset of incentives. Once subsidies are stopped, many nights by flyers vanish from the market,” he says.

Volttic focuses on better utilisation of the EV charging machines to have economic viability in the business.

“If my dedicated charging machines are utilised for ten to twelve hours and public charging stations are utilised for around six to seven hours per day, I can achieve economic viability,” says Chaturvedi.

Volttic’s all EV charging machines are manufactured according to government standards by its strategic partners in India. Deployment and maintenance are taken care of by Volttic. “Software is the backbone of our business. Station monitoring, tariff management, booking slots, navigation, payments and app, everything is managed by in-house software team,” adds Chaturvedi. The company provides public EV charging app with all advance feature set for EV drivers. Easy navigation to nearest charging stations, booking, payment and all transaction details just in a click with Volttic mobile application. The app also provides complete details of charging station and availability for charging slots and many more advance features for EV users.

Margins in the business widely depend on the operating costs, which again vary from city to city. EV charging stations charge in both ways- per unit (kWH) or hours or minutes basic, and In India, EV charging stations in use the former way to charge tariffs. “Operating cost and subsequently, tariffs depend on many factors. Many states have adopted the EV policy so there are caps on per unit charge, while states that have not adopted the EV policy charge commercial rates per unit. Besides, location rents and machine cost also determine the tariffs. But yes, the tariff has to be lower than per km costs of fossil fuel-driven vehicles. Commercial viability can be achieved if machine utilisation rates are good,” explains Chaturvedi.

Talking on the feasibility of procuring energy from solar, he says, “Again to install a dedicated solar system, you need CAPEX. Even if it is fitted and the machines’ utilisation remains low, where will we dump electricity or inject in the grid at ever lower net metering? However, our ultimate goal is to get energy from renewable resources in future, when we have good hours of machine utilisation to consume dedicated renewable power energy. Also, within city getting rooftop location to develop a 50-70 KW solar plant will be another challenge, so we are more aligned toward our nationwide renewable integration up to 175 GW by 2022 and subsequent more to the coming year.”

As most EV charging station business is being driven by commercial fleet operators, availing value-added services do not bring more business rather bring more liability, thinks Chaturvedi. “Value-added services are good for personal/ individual vehicle owners, whereas commercial fleet operators think of the total cost of operations,” tells Chaturvedi.

Chaturvedi quotes battery swapping is currently not viable for electric 4W and buses as it needs heavy infrastructure.

Moreover, it is not viable unless battery packs and technologies are uniformed in the electric car and buses by all OEMs, which looks very difficult in coming time as well.

“Since Volttic is using only Government approved EV Chargers standard and that are adopted by all OEM of four-wheeler cars and buses, so most of the client are fleet of electric car and buses. For two and three-wheelers, swapping is a more convenient option as most of them currently available in the market do not have the facility to charge fast with DC chargers. So swapping is the way to get a quick top-up by replacing charged batteries,” adds he.

It requires robust infrastructure such as bulk charging system, a software system to get details on batteries. The business is only successful when fleets run over 200 km per day, and there is a good number of volume of 2W & 3W,” says Chaturvedi. However, the company is also exploring options of getting into battery swapping business with two and three-wheeler fleet companies. (MT)

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Chinese-owned Swedish automotive major Volvo Cars has unveiled a new multi-adaptive safety belt, which it claims is a world-first technology aimed to further enhance safety for everyone in real-world traffic situations. The multi-adaptive safety belt is set to debut in Volvo EX60 in 2026, the company’s fully electric offering. It uses real-time data from the cars advanced sensors to adapt to traffic variations and the user wearing the seatbelt.

Based on the data input from interior and exterior sensors the seatbelt provides customised protection, adapting the setting based on the situation and individual’s profiles, such as their height, weight, body shape and seating position. For example, a larger occupant in a serious crash will receive a higher belt load setting to help reduce the risk of head injury. While a smaller occupant in a milder crash will receive a lower belt load setting to reduce the risk of rib fractures. Using over-the-air software updates, it gets better over time.

Asa Haglund, Head of Volvo Cars Safety Centre, said, “The world's first multi-adaptive safety belt is another milestone for automotive safety and a great example of how we leverage real-time data with the ambition to help save millions of more lives. This marks a major upgrade to the modern three-point safety belt, a Volvo invention introduced in 1959, estimated to have saved over a million lives.”

The Swedish carmaker stated that modern safety belts use load limiters to control how much force the safety belt applies on the human body during a crash. This new safety belt expands the load-limiting profiles from three to 11 and increases the possible number of settings, enabling it to optimise performance for each situation and individual. Unlike traditional systems, the new multi-adaptive safety belt can utilise data from different sensors, including exterior, interior and crash sensors. In less than a blink of an eye, the car’s system analyses the unique characteristics of a crash – such as direction, speed and passenger posture – and shares that information with the safety belt. Based on this data, the system selects the most appropriate setting.

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Carraro Group’s leadership – including Ettore Francesco Sequi, Chairman of Carraro India, and Tomaso Carraro, Vice Chairman of Carraro Group and Carraro India – had a meeting with Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Indian Ambassador to Italy Vani Sarraju Rao in Milan, Italy, underscoring the deepening industrial collaboration between Italy and India, particularly in the off-highway, agriculture and construction equipment sectors.

The discussions reaffirmed Carraro Group’s long-standing commitment to India, which began in 1997. Under the motto ‘Think & Make in India’, the company has focused on developing localised solutions for the Indian market, including advanced 4WD drivetrain systems that enhance agricultural productivity and farm mechanisation. These technologies play a crucial role in supporting food security by improving efficiency for farmers, enabling higher yields and addressing global demand for sustainable food production.

Carraro India has set an ambitious growth target, aiming to increase its turnover from the current EUR 200 million to EUR 350 million by the fiscal year 2028-29. To achieve this, the company plans to expand its manufacturing facility in Pune, reinforcing its production capabilities and strengthening its supply chain within India. This expansion aligns with India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, promoting local manufacturing and job creation while catering to both domestic and international markets.

The engagement highlights India’s growing appeal as a manufacturing and investment destination for European companies, particularly in the agricultural and construction machinery sectors. It also reflects the broader economic and technological partnership between India and Italy, fostering innovation, skill development and industrial growth.

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German automotive technology giant Continental has developed a new sensor technology that is said to significantly enhance the efficiency and sustainability of electric vehicle (EV) motors.

For the first time, their new e-Motor Rotor Temperature Sensor (eRTS) directly measures the temperature inside permanently excited synchronous motors on the rotor itself.

This innovative approach delivers substantially more precise measurement results than current software-based temperature simulations, drastically reducing the tolerance range from 15deg Celsius to a mere 3deg Celsius. The enhanced accuracy offers a dual benefit for vehicle manufacturers: it enables them to reduce the reliance on costly rare earth elements used to boost magnet heat resistance and simultaneously improve potential motor performance. This, in turn, paves the way for greater sustainability in EV production.

The eRTS is a key development from Continental's E-Mobility Sensors (EMS) product centre, which is dedicated to creating advanced sensor technologies for electric vehicles.

Bin Huo, Head of Passive Safety and Sensorics (PSS) segment, Continental, said, "With less resource consumption and lower costs, eRTS sensor technology is advantageous over current solutions. This innovation shows that investing resources and focusing expertise in our product centre was absolutely the right decision. We will continue to successively expand our EV sensor portfolio."

Higher Measuring Accuracy

The eRTS system comprises two distinct components: a wireless mote temperature sensor unit positioned close to the magnet within the EV motor and a wired transducer element situated outside the motor, connected to the inverter control.

Rotors operate under extreme conditions, with temperatures potentially reaching up to 150deg Celsius. Consequently, precise monitoring and control of heat development in EV motors are paramount. Presently, heat development is not measured directly but is instead calculated based on data from the stator temperature sensor, phase current measurements and environmental variables. This indirect method results in a tolerance range of up to 15deg Celsius. To safeguard magnets from demagnetisation due to excessive heat, expensive rare earth elements are typically used to cover this entire tolerance range and ensure sufficient heat resistance.

The significantly greater measuring accuracy of the eRTS, which reduces the tolerance range to just 3deg Celsius, presents car manufacturers with new design possibilities and freedom in permanent magnet synchronous EV motors.

A considerable proportion of costly rare earth materials, which would otherwise be required to account for the wider tolerance range for safety reasons, can now be saved. Furthermore, the improved accuracy offers the intriguing prospect of enhancing motor performance by pushing the operational limits closer to the actual temperature threshold.

Christoph Busch, Lead – Product Centre, Continental, said, "Our E-Mobility Sensors product centre aims to increase efficiency and sustainability in electric vehicles. The eRTS technology is a prime example of this: reducing the use of rare earths contributes to a more sustainable supply chain, especially given that the number of EVs is expected to greatly increase in the coming years and decades. In combination with other sensor technologies, such as the e-Motor Rotor Position Sensor, it can even act as a system solution to create synergies that can save car manufacturers money and effort."

Ultrasound Technology

The eRTS's two components, the mote element and the transducer element, work in tandem. The mote temperature sensor unit measures the temperature directly at the target area, as close as possible to the magnet. Crucially, the wireless mote draws its energy solely from the wired transducer, which is connected to the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and simultaneously provides the transducer with its measuring data. The transducer is located outside the EV motor on the chassis and transmits temperature information to the inverter control via a communication interface. Both the mote and transducer communicate using Piezo ultrasound, which also facilitates the energy supply to the mote.

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In a landmark development for artificial intelligence and global technological partnerships, G42, OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, SoftBank Group and Cisco have joined forces to launch Stargate UAE, a next-generation AI infrastructure cluster set to operate in Abu Dhabi.

The announcement, made in the presence of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, highlighted UAE’s commitment to driving cutting-edge innovation on the world stage.

The launch event witnessed the attendance of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Defence and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Council, alongside prominent dignitaries and senior officials.

Stargate UAE, a 1-gigawatt compute cluster, will be constructed by G42 and operated by OpenAI and Oracle. NVIDIA will provide its cutting-edge Grace Blackwell GB300 systems, while Cisco contributes AI-ready connectivity and zero-trust security frameworks. SoftBank Group will also play a crucial role in the initiative. Once operational, Stargate UAE will deliver exceptional AI infrastructure, scalable compute resources, and ultra-low latency for inferencing, enabling powerful AI applications across industries. The first 200-megawatt cluster is slated to go live in 2026.

Designed to fuel scientific discovery, industry innovation and economic growth, Stargate UAE will support sectors including healthcare, energy, finance and transportation. It forms the cornerstone of the newly announced UAE–US AI Campus, a 5-gigawatt AI hub spanning 10 square miles in Abu Dhabi – the largest deployment of its kind outside the United States. Powered by a combination of nuclear, solar and natural gas sources, the facility will prioritise sustainability and low-carbon operations. It will also feature a science park to nurture talent, advance research, and promote sustainable computing solutions.

The UAE–US AI Campus builds upon the ‘US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership’, a framework unveiled last week by the U.S. and UAE governments to foster safe, secure and responsible AI technologies. As part of this initiative, UAE entities will expand their digital infrastructure investments in the U.S., including projects like Stargate U.S., aligned with the ‘America First Investment Policy.’

Peng Xiao, Group CEO, G42, said, “The launch of Stargate UAE is a significant step in the UAE–US AI partnership. As a founding partner, we’re proud to work alongside institutions that share our belief in responsible innovation and meaningful global progress. This initiative is about building a bridge – rooted in trust and ambition – that helps bring the benefits of AI to economies, societies, and people around the world.”

Sam Altman, Co-founder and CEO, OpenAI, said, “By establishing the world’s first Stargate outside of the US in the UAE, we’re transforming a bold vision into reality. This is the first major milestone in our OpenAI for Countries initiative – our effort to work with allies and partners to build AI infrastructure around the world. It’s a step toward ensuring some of this era’s most important breakthroughs – safer medicines, personalised learning, and modernised energy – can emerge from more places and benefit the world.”

Larry Ellison, CTO and Chairman, Oracle, said, “Stargate pairs Oracle’s AI-optimised cloud with nation-scale sovereign infrastructure. This first-in-the-world platform will enable every UAE government agency and commercial institution to connect their data to the world’s most advanced AI models. This landmark deployment sets a new standard for digital sovereignty and demonstrates how nation states can harness the power of the most important technology in the history of humankind.”

Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO, NVIDIA, said, “AI is the most transformative force of our time. With Stargate UAE, we are building the AI infrastructure to power the country’s bold vision – to empower its people, grow its economy, and shape its future.”

Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group, said, “When we unveiled Stargate in the US with OpenAI and Oracle, we set out to build an engine for the next information revolution. Now, the UAE becomes the first nation beyond America to embrace this sovereign AI platform, proving the global nature of this vision. SoftBank is proud to support the UAE’s leap forward. Bold investments, trusted partnerships, and national ambition can create a more connected, more joyful and more empowered world.”

Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO, Cisco, said, “Cisco is proud to join Stargate UAE to advance groundbreaking AI innovation in the UAE and around the world. By embedding our secure AI-optimised networking fabric for this international deployment, we're building smart, secure and energy-efficient networks that will turn intelligence into impact at global scale.”

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