SMEV Announce Its Electric Mobility Strategy; Appoints New Vertical Heads

The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), India's nodal body representing electric manufacturers announced its next electric mobility strategy along with setting up of five new verticals in the electric vehicle segment. In its 10th Annual General Meeting, SMEV announced that the new verticals heads will be responsible for creating awareness of electric vehicles in their respective fields and also represent the body on various platforms related to electric mobility. The new heads have been elected for a period of one year and will represent their segments along with working towards the government's plan to have a fully electric fleet by 2030.

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The new segments introduced by SMEV include- heavy commercial vehicles segment, electric three wheelers segment, electric two wheelers segment, electric four wheelers segment and component drive train segment. The core idea of the new verticals will be to create awareness in the respective segments and bring more manufacturers on board for expanding electric mobility in the country. SMEV will collaborate with Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM) to formulate policies on electric mobility.

Sohinder Gill, Director of SMEV said, "We are extremely happy to complete ten years of leading industry body representing electric mobility in nation. And on this occasion, we warmly welcome our new category heads who will be responsible for their respective segments."

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The new vertical heads are Sushant Nayak of Tata Motors, who will be handling the heavy commercial vehicles segment (E-buses, trucks), Sulajja Firodia Motwani of Kinetic Green will take charge of the electric three wheelers segment (E-rickshaw, L-5 auto E-Karts); Manu Sharma from Hero Electric will be heading the electric two wheelers segment (E-cycles to high speed scooters, bikes); Pawan Sachdeva from Mahindra Electric will be in charge for the electric four wheelers segment (Car, LCV on 4 wheels) and finally, Guruprasad Pudlapur of Bosch will look after the component drive train segment (charging infra, electrical, electronic components except battery).

Manu Sharma, official spokesperson, SMEV said, "Till now, the electric mobility in India was limited to two-wheelers and so was the case for SMEV, but last year we saw a rapid growth, with many four-wheelers OEMs coming on board with SMEV. The SMEV 2.0 project will now consist of OEMs from all the segments, including four-wheeler, three-wheeler and commercial vehicles as well, as we believe we need an all-round development."

An industry expert who did not want to be named said, "SMEV started off with only a few members, but since the last 10 years, we have increased that number to more than 60 members. Our aim is to work closely with the government and share our on-ground expertise on the electric vehicle matter."

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The new verticals will work closely with the Centre, concerned ministries and also the government think-tank NITI Aayog to formulate policies that will benefit the customers and also the manufactures. Each vertical head will get a time period of one year to create as much awareness as possible and work on new policies to create a sustainable eco-system for electric vehicles. Moreover, the verticals will also deliberate on creating infrastructure in various states like Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab etc, which will help SMEV to create awareness for EVs in the areas. It also wants the state governments to take initiative to promote electric mobility in their respective states.