Hitachi ABB Plans for EV Charging System in India with Ashok Leyland

Hitachi ABB Power Grids, which recently launched its Grid-eMotion Fleet, a game-changing grid-to-plug EV charging system for large scale public transports and commercial operators, plans to bring the technology to India with Ashok Leyland as its partner.

The home-grown commercial vehicle manufacturer, earlier this year, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ABB to develop a pilot electric bus based on the latter's flash-charge technology, Grid-eMotion Flash solution, commonly known as TOSA.
Commenting on the company's plans to bring Grid eMotion Fleet to India, Andre Burdet, Product Management and Marketing Manager, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, said, "We have already signed an MoU with Ashok Leyland in India for a pilot project where we are supplying our Grid-eMotion Flash solution for their buses, and we also plan to implement our Grid-eMotion Fleet solution as part of the agreement." He further added, "As part of this introduction, we are talking with various parties in India about the opportunity to implement the solution."

Grid-eMotion Fleet uses DC technology and can connect to any type of power network, removing the complexities of integrating AC-DC chargers into a system. Compared to a conventional connection to the AC grid, the pioneering solution brings a 60 percent reduction in space required for large-scale EV fleet charging, whilst the depot cabling is reduced by 40 percent. The fast-to-install solution harnesses renewable energy through grid integration, smart mobility, digital energy management system and incorporates insights from data analytics.

Currently, the company has a 1-Megawatt (1000 kW) system installed in Milan, Italy, and several other projects are currently under development in several other countries.

Pointing to the electric vehicle ecosystem in India, Burdet said, "Compared to other countries, India is a few years behind in terms of adoption, infrastructure and regulations. However, the Government (of India) has taken various measures to boost the domestic manufacturing segment. Schemes such as FAME and 100 percent FDI to ebus manufacturers provide great incentives to lower the costs of electric buses to make it more affordable and facilitate their adoption in the country." Under FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles) scheme, the Government of India plans to have 5,000 electric buses in India by 2022.

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