Toshiba India Private Limited announced the signing of an agreement with EVage Automotive Private Limited to supply the next 10,000 EVage electric commercial vehicles with SCiBTM rechargeable lithium-ion cells. This collaboration comes after two years of research and development to include these cells into EVage’s patented ultra-stable and quick-charging battery packs.
The agreement ensures that enough cells will be available in 2023 to support EVage’s ambitious manufacturing ramp-up and to fulfill the thousands of current reservations for its delivery vehicles in India. The collaboration with Toshiba India also guarantees that EVage meets its cost and margin objectives. This is the first-time lithium titanium oxide (LTO) cells have been used in commercial delivery vans, allowing EVage vehicles to reach improvements in battery safety, dependability, and performance, which will help its delivery fleet clients greatly.
The proprietary commercial automobile battery pack would have the following features:
· Toshiba’s SCiBTM cells have demonstrated outstanding functioning over a wide variety of charge and temperature ranges while retaining high levels of safety. Using these technologies, EVage’s battery pack is safe for full operation up to 65°C and is exceptionally impact resistant with a low danger of thermal runaway.
· Unrivaled dependability: EVage’s commercial cars may be fully recharged in 20 minutes. Its pack, which includes Toshiba’s SCiBTM rechargeable lithium-ion cells, can sustain fast charging over 20,000 cycles while remaining performant and operational.
Mr. Shuichi Ito, Managing Director of Toshiba India, stated on this occasion, “Our commitment of ‘Committed to People, Committed to the Future.’ signifies sustainable development and growth at the core of our company operations. We want to help India achieve a carbon-neutral society, and we appreciate EVage’s capacity to actualize the performance of Toshiba’s product with its distinctive attributes of safety, long life, and quick charging. I am overjoyed to sign this deal with EVage, which will assist EVage in introducing next-generation electric commercial cars and addressing the issue of air pollution caused by tailpipe emissions. Toshiba India will deliver sophisticated solutions by using the unique properties of SCiBTM rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to contribute to the creation of a Carbon Neutral India.”
Mr. Inderveer Singh, Founder & CEO of EVage, stated, “EVage is a leading provider of zero-emissions electric vans to global corporations like Amazon and India’s largest and fastest-growing logistics company, Delhivery, among others.” Our electric commercial vehicles are a game changer for their logistical fleets. We’ve been working on a flexible automotive platform that can offer zero emissions and high uptime to take our customers to new heights of the operating economy since 2014. Our objective has always been to make electrification a painless transition, including making charging as quick as fueling today. It took years of development to bring the EVage battery pack to where it is now, during which time we evaluated several cell technologies. It’s a thrill to announce today, in collaboration with Toshiba India, that EVage is providing LTO chemical cells to commercial vehicles for the first time with the Toshiba SCiBTM range. Their performance lets our clients achieve the highest fleet economics, and Toshiba’s scale enables EVage to meet our key cost and margin objectives.”
In India, due to convergence of various elements, most notably climate change policies, fuel pricing, and rising e-commerce demand, has created excellent conditions for electric vehicle start-ups. And, as previously said, the battery accounts for 30-40% of the vehicle’s cost, regardless of type. Therefore, the need for alternatives to the current Li-ion batteries is critical in the race toward electrification. They may be greener than lead acid batteries, but they have their own restrictions. Because there is no guarantee that we will be able to find enough raw materials to fulfill demand. While automobile manufacturers, battery makers, and a slew of ecosystem start-ups are all attempting to develop lithium-ion battery replacements, just a handful of solutions are already in the works, with results being implemented.
In this regard, the initial deployment of lithium titanium oxide (LTO) cells in delivery vans and commercial vehicles will aid battery safety and performance. Which appears to be the frontrunner in the race to replace lithium-ion, along with other chemistries, as a technology that gives energy density similar to lithium-ion but over a longer projected usable lifespan with higher safety and much cheaper raw materials. Thus, it will be fascinating to see whether this battery chemistry will be a game changer for their logistics fleets in electric commercial vehicles or not!
