An Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad-incubated Startup has developed long-range, high-performance electric two-wheelers specifically designed for Indian Conditions and is commercially launching them across the country next month. PURE EV is the electric vehicle vertical of PuREnergy, a startup incubated by IIT Hyderabad which manufactures high performance Lithium batteries.
PUR EV is launching four models – ‘EGNITE,’ ‘ETRANCE,’ ‘EPLUTO,’ and ‘ETRON’. It aims to deploy over 10,000 electric vehicles on road in the new financial year (2019-20). It has established an 18,000-sqft state-of-the-art facility, co-located with IIT Hyderabad, for cutting-edge Research and Developing and for large scale production of electric vehicles and electric batteries.
The startup will continue to collaborate with R&D laboratories of IIT Hyderabad, which will provide strong technological support. The company was founded in 2016 by Dr. Nishanth Dongari, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, and is led by Mr. Rohit Vadera, an alumnus of IIT Bombay.
Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, and Prof U.B. Desai, Director, IIT Hyderabad, visited the manufacturing unit on Sunday (28th April 2019) and interacted with the founders. The vision of the company is to enable the current generation of electric two wheelers to be upgraded to match the performance parameters of the conventional ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles in terms of reliability, power and economics.
The unique points of the vehicles developed by PURE EV include:
- The batteries are designed to work under tough environmental conditions,
- The batteries will have lesser weight for portability, and
- They will deliver high discharge currents for fast pickup
Speaking about the launch of the new products, Dr. Nishanth Dongari said, “We have developed strong capabilities in the lithium battery packs assembly, active balancing management systems and rigorous testing standards for deployment in our electric two-wheelers. We are also working in the Institute for further development of active thermal management systems, vehicle aerodynamics, and lighter weight faster chargers. This will enable us to launch high-speed electric vehicles in the future”.
“The company has extended collaboration with other EV startups to develop and supply high voltage lithium batteries for three and four-wheeler applications. Dedicated research fellows are working on solving the problems associated with active cooling, in-depth electro-chemistry-thermal analysis and eventually making the entire battery unit compatible for high-speed EV applications,” added Dr. Nishanth Dongari.
PURE EV has deployed hundreds of test samples across pan-India over last one year to various distributors, corporate firms and professional test riders. It is also in the process of developing a strong network of channel partners across pan-India.
Highlighting the business plans of the firm, Mr. Rohit Vadera, Chief Executive Officer, PURE EV, said, “We have obtained ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) approvals for electric bikes and two-wheelers. The company has invested a significant amount of resources for on road testing the products for their market readiness. Our electric vehicles offer significant cost savings over traditional ICE vehicles with running costs as low as 5 paise/KM. We are working actively for channel development and aim to deploy more than 10,000 units of our various models in the current financial year.”
The team has built expertise in the battery design by choosing ultra-performance cells and efficient battery management to enhance on road life and range of battery by up to 50 per cent. Various equipment including destructive testing, vibration testing and on-road simulation of EV are housed in the dedicated technology development centre set up by the company. The extensive mechanical and electrical testing facilities have been used for continuous improvements of critical EV components and gain insights via life cycle analysis.
