Energetica India Magazine -October 2020

years, however, pace of growth towards EV in India needs to be hastened as compared to global surge. How EVs can become more affordable for the end customer? N aresh K umar : Many people overestimate the cost of an elec - tric vehicle (EV). In fact, switching from a gasoline powered vehicle to an electric one means lower costs of vehicle own- ership for everyone. Electric vehicles have a big price tag at - tached to them, but EV maintenance is cheaper because EVs have far fewer moving parts, don’t require oil changes, and don’t have timing belts, fan belts, spark plugs, head gaskets, cylinder heads, air filters exhausts, transmission fluids or muf - flers. Additionally, EVs have regenerative braking that uses the electric motor to slow the speed rather than the brakes, allow - ing further savings on brake pads and rotors. Also, average prices are already lower for electric vehicles in certain vehicle segments. The battery is the most expensive component in an electric vehicle; the goal is to reduce battery costs significantly to in - dustry-leading levels. New, low-cost batteries are being de - signed to last for a million miles of use and enable EVs as to sell profitably for the same price or less than a gasoline vehicle. In current scenario, Electric vehicle prices are largely deter- mined by the cost of the battery, so, battery leasing is another option to reduce cost at initial purchase which exclude cost of battery and it is an ongoing payment for your car’s battery. But 16 energetica INDIA- October_2020 INTERVIEW unlike a phone or a car on finance, you won’t own the battery after you stop paying the lease. The useful thing about leasing is that if the battery begins to depreciate, the leasing company will send you a new one. Why EV connectors, Cables and Junction boxes have been less talked about, even though one of the important com- ponents of the EV system? Is this the case that customers are not much aware about their significance? N aresh K umar : EV connectors, junction boxes and cables are very often overlooked as they aren’t a large % of the BOM costs. However, it’s been shown that poorly designed connec - tors can account for nearly 70% of PV system failures. This is why we make every effort to ensure we make the highest performing connector. Our customers and we realize that UL and IEC standards are only a baseline for checking the prod - uct, but not necessarily indicative of the real life conditions our products will see during their usable life. Therefore, we conduct random quarterly environmental testing on our pro - duction parts. This testing goes far beyond the requirements of UL and IEC standards. Sometimes 2x or 3x the standard and also with mechanical loads added to the environmental and electrical exercise. It’s not good enough to certify once and trust that the same quality will continue as production tools wear and material lots may vary. This is why we repeat the harsh testing every 3 months on real production parts.