Innovation Challenge Fund (ICF) - eu …



Innovation Challenge Fund (ICF)Concept Note Template 1.Name / Organisation Virtus Motors Private Limited2.Email address / Phone numberinfo@virtusmotors.in / +9179816467673.Title of ProjectModular Electric Two Wheeler Vehicle Platform 4.Application for ICF ClusterFuture Mobility - Connectivity, Maharashtra5.Co-Members of the Consortium *(Type – Indian Academia, Indian Business, International Academia, International Business, Indian non-commercial organisation, International non-commercial organisation, Other - specify)* Information not mandatory for the concept note stage.#OrganizationType1.Brunel University, London, UKInternational Academia2.Alasala Colleges, Saudi ArabiaInternational Academia3.4.6.If you do not already have agreed consortium members, please indicate here the kind of partners you would like to hear from. Indian non-commercial organisation, Indian Academia, International non-commercial organisation.7. Are you content for us to publish your concept note on our web platform in order to encourage potential consortium members to reach out to you? Yes8.Funding Requested (up to ?250k)?205,0009.Co-funding provided (if any) and sourceNo 10.Please summarise your Innovation Challenge Fund research project in one sentence. 350 character limitOur research project is based on our on-going research focused on the design and development of a truly modular electric two-wheeler platform catering to multiple use cases in first last-mile mobility, logistics, and rural mobility. Our research is based on existing product feedback and is focused on being ingenious with the overall design to be versatile and overcome range anxiety at an affordable price.11.Please describe your project further. What problem does your pilot seek to address? Who are the potential beneficiaries and other stakeholders? What are the inputs and activities, and what are the outputs? What does success look like after 12 months of funded research? How will your solution reach the market place? 2500 character limitWe aim to design and develop an ingenious electric two-wheeler that is affordable and modular. Before Covid-19 impacted our lives, about 70% of people in metro cities relied on public transport, cabs, and autorickshaws for their daily commute and about 95% of first-last-mile deliveries are on petrol two-wheelers. Our research focus is to develop a vehicle that can cater to these sectors and other sectors that could utilize our modular platform. The project started with interviews of potential business customers and feedback from our existing customers in the logistics business and the response suggests the major pain point they currently face is not having an electric vehicle fit for their requirements. A short conclusion to the problem is due to the types of electric vehicles currently available in the market. These are split into two categories Low-speed vehicles with a top speed of 25kmph. These are not suited for deliveries for fleets or individuals since they are low on speed and cannot compete with ICE alternatives since their revenue/income is based on the number of deliveries completed per day. High-speed vehicles with a top speed of 70kmph. These vehicles are comparable with current petrol vehicles and one would believe they would be the obvious choice. But to our surprise these vehicles are also not cost-effective since their electronics are not designed for daily and continuous rough use, hence requiring continuous maintenance resulting in higher downtime. The other pain point that we are focusing on is the overall vehicle design. Most existing vehicles (ICE or EV) are not purpose-built for logistics/deliveries, they are built for individuals for their daily commute, which are then added with accessories to perform logistics duties. We plan to address this with a modular frame platform, that has an easy swap solution at the rear which can hold either pannier bags, rear carries (Flat or Pallet), or a rear seat to address the versatility of use. We believe in co-development, and since inception, we have been working together with customers to build vehicles that exactly match their requirements. Ideally, our research would result in a truly ingenious, fuss-free, easy to use, and affordable electric two-wheeler that serves as a solution to mobility problems in multiple sectors. With a soft commitment for 5000 vehicles from logistics companies and our second prototype vehicle already under development, our pilot will be initially focused on delivery fleet operators. The planned pilot will be in close cooperation with one of India's logistics company focused on last-mile deliveries. We will seek to address the challenges currently faced by these operators and with continuous feedback and improvements in the 6 month pilot period. We should have the design and specifications locked and be able to start production and sales within 6 months after the successful completion of the pilot. 12.What is ‘technological’ about your proposed solution and why might this be appropriate to the challenge areas?1000 character limitWe believe developing the right technological solution for connectivity is a challenge to get right, as it will result in multiple positive results. There is an evident immediate cost-benefit to the users, It is better for the environment, it has health benefits and can assist with energy security. With India being one of the largest importers of oil, electrification would reduce dependency, albeit the difference would not be massive, it would still be significant. Our solution is focused on an ingenious, unique modular design. The technological benefits of the design reduce production time and cost, reduced weight, and increased overall strength and stiffness. Since progression in battery technology has been slow, and it seems like lithium-ion is here to stay for some more years, we are working on improving our existing battery management system design to withstand loads and abuse from rough and continuous use and plan to continuously improve it by collecting and collating multiple data points from the vehicles.13.Is your proposed solution a response to the impacts of COVID-19, or an effort to contain the pandemic? If so, please explain. 1000 character limit We started research for the project a few weeks prior to COVID-19 inducing a nation-wide lockdown and is not a direct effort to contain the pandemic. However, the pandemic has challenged the concepts of mobility and has created a shift in the mindset of many. Since the pandemic, there is a general reluctance to travel in shared or public transport, witnessed by many aggregators, forcing them to alternate business strategies. It has also been observed that there is an increase in hyperlocal deliveries of essentials and other commodities as well as an increase in online shopping as people prefer to stay home. Our modular platform caters to logistics as well as personal transport and can be explorative as an indirect aide-de-camp to contain the pandemic.14.Does your proposed solution contribute to combatting climate change or promoting a greener planet? If so, please explain. 1000 character limitElectric vehicles in general are responsible for considerably lower overall emissions over their lifespan compared to their ICE counterparts. There have been various theories that these benefits are smaller with coal-intensive electric generation nations such as India, however, with India’s massive effort to shift focus to renewables, the emissions will fall further for existing EVs and manufacturing emissions will fall for new EVs.?To do a short comparison analysis to the climate-changing emissions from EVs vs. ICE vehicles we have to look at the source of emissions.?ICE vehicles, emissions from extracting crude oil from the ground, moving the oil to the refinery, making petrol/diesel, and transporting the oil halfway across the world to filling stations, in addition to combustion emissions from the tailpipe. Typically an ICE two-wheeler has close to 1000 unique parts, each part manufactured generates some emissions.?EVs include emissions from power plants either coal or natural gas, mining of lithium for batteries, and transportation of raw material for the manufacturing of cells. Compared to ICE, a typical E2W has half the number of unique parts.15.How is your proposal relevant to the development challenges of India? 1000 character limitIndia has one of the highest numbers of fossil-fuelled vehicles in the world. This poses a challenge to contain tailpipe emissions which lead to poor air quality and health. Rapid development in cities further intensify these but access to transport is essential for economic growth and development of the country, leading to the need for alternative modes of mobility, to help reduce the issues of CO2 emissions and poor air quality. A shift to EV helps to reduce the emissions and can better the air quality and health of the country. India is also one of the largest importer of crude oil across the world but has surplus electricity generation capacity, faster adoption of electric vehicles can help reduces the dependency of oil and increase utilizing indigenous electricity generation capacity.By targeting the right type of electric vehicle that fits the requirement, there can be higher uptake of electric vehicles. Our project hits the right target market and with research and testing, we will be able to deliver a vehicle that exactly matches the requirements for mobility in logistics, first last mile, and rural mobility.16.What consideration have you made of gender in developing your concept? Could your project address gender inequality or other kinds of inequality? 1000 character limitWhen we designed and built our first-ever electric bicycle, Alpha S, in 2017, we put it out for some feedback and quickly realized we did not design a gender-neutral bicycle. Our vehicle did not cater to women at all as the egress was not suitable. We got back to the drawing board and in 3 months re-launched a gender-neutral, unisex bicycle called the Alpha Y, a variation of the Alpha S, which is popular among women. This experience has been a learning for us in our early product development phase, and since then we have focused on building gender-neutral products.The other learning we have had over the years is mobility requirements for paraplegic and differently-abled individuals.The current design is a gender-neutral vehicle, and additionally, since we custom build vehicles for the ease of mobility to the differently-abled, paraplegic, and disadvantaged individuals. we are also adding a provision for ease of vehicle operation.Notes: Please be kindly reminded of the primary criteria: relevance to the environmental and/or C19 agenda. See boxes 13 and 14. Except box 5, all boxes require mandatory response.In the interests of fairness, proposals that exceed the character limits will not be considered. ................
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