TheSfactor talk show hosted its 16th episode with the theme ‘Back to the future e-mobility’ on Saturday August 21 at 4 pm. Sharan Kumar, Murali Aikara, Nikhil Gonsalves and Roshan Seth were the key speakers of the show.
The event was hosted by Shekhar Vijayan and Sameera Fernandes.
Sharan Kumar, engineer by qualification, is the Senior Manager at Swiggy and he has 5 plus years’ experience in Hyperlocal logistics. He is researching on driving adoption of electric vehicle to delivery executives for more than a year.
Murali Arikara is the Chief Technology Officer at Racanaa Energy. He has been the independent Director at Netvarth Technologies, Digital Core Technologies Pvt. Ltd. He also works as a Trustee in M.S. Gurukkal Kadathanadan Kalari Trust. He focuses on Business Development, Technology Management, Financing, Startups, Product Management, Strategy.
Nikhil Gonsalves is the Founder and CEO at inGO Electric Pvt. Ltd. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, certifications in PMP, ITIL, SCRUM and Six Sigma methodologies.
Rohan Seth, Head of Business and Operations, Prakriti E-Mobility Pvt. Ltd. completed his engineering course from New York University specialised in Biotechnology and Environmental Sciences. He has a total experience of 6 years working with start-ups focused on sustainable growth and energy management like Energime, Anektos Energy, Raphe mPhibr Pvt. Ltd and Vyom Power Pvt. Ltd. In fact, Rohan is quite passionate about preventing climate change and is constantly encouraging and promoting new & improved sustainable technologies. He is also an avid reader and a musician who plays Piano.
Starting off the discussion, Nikhil Gonsalves said, “A couple of years back we had green energy at a far higher price than price than conventional energy. This is no longer the story due to many governments’ norms. India had been able to bring down the cost of renewable energy by a great deal and this is a huge step forward.”
Taking into consideration the pandemic situation, Nikhil said that this period shifted the focus of the people from taking mass transport and led them to opt for other individual forms. “This along with the increase of petrol price, the demand for our vehicles have gone up,” he said.
“Gone are those days when people considered electric vehicles as a very niche market. Elon musk has completely changed the narrative by creating a super performance car. We need our customers also to be very demanding. This will eliminate the arrival of cheap know offs from outside India and will promote Make in India initiative and help create a ecosystem of production within our country,” said Nikhil.
Adding to the points, Rohan Seth said that core of e-mobility is the electric vehicle itself. “We see cities like Delhi and Bengaluru leading the way for e-mobility. This shows that the green revolution is going on in a much faster and better way,” he said.
“More than sustainable development, what drove us during the pandemic was the need to sustain ourselves and in turn we looked for different kinds of solution. We shifted our focus towards the healthcare system and developed an app called Jeevan Seva by which people can call a cab. This initiative grew from the need to sustain ourselves,” said Rohan.
He stated that the revolution starts from the grassroot level which will ultimately bring in a behavioural change in everyone.
Speaking on the report by the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change, Murali Arikara said that what actions we take now is going to decide how things move on from 2050. “The only option we have is to reducing our carbon footprint at least from an electricity generation perspective. Decentralisation and Digitalisation are going to be the two key things which will help us drive towards it,” he said.
“Things have not yet changed with respect to the urgency of what is needed. If anything, it’s only gotten more urgent. The current emergencies around the world like the fire in the western United States has made it certain that global warming is real,” Murali said.
“From a consumer point of view, it looks very promising as their mindset is changing. They are taking lot of steps to be responsible towards the environment. Lot of players are trying to solve all parts of the equation and I am looking forward to being a consumer in this journey,” said Sharan Kumar.
Sharan said that while looking at mass adoption of electric vehicles, people look at three different things, number one being a very suitable machine. “There are many players who are coming up with their own products but what matters is whether this electric bike gives you the same feel or energy that a bullet gives. If not to that extent then whether it can at least replace a Honda Activa,” he said.
“We all agree that electric vehicles are costlier than normal vehicles but in the long run it becomes meaningful in terms of maintenance and other expenses,” he added.
