South India Special Part 2: Karnataka

Volvo strikes 10,000^th mark

Report: Joshua David Luther

The Indian economy is expected to grow at a rate of 7pc in the years to come and the Indian mining and infrastructure sector has a major role to play in this growth. While many government bodies are working at full capacity to ensure targets are achieved the major contributors to growth are emerging from the private sector. In the mining and infrastructure industry Volvo Trucks has been at the centre of all the action and have successfully sold their 10,000^th truck in India.

The infrastructure and automobile sectors have received a renewed thrust and this will further create a demand for steel and power in the country. This in turn is expected to generate demand for minerals such as coal and iron ore. While Volvo has sold its 10,000^th truck in India more than 70pc of these sales have been to the mining sector. In FY 2014-15 the approximate target for coal production in India was 630 million tonnes of which approximately 120 million tonnes of coal production was facilitated through Volvo Trucks. Telangana is one of the major hubs for coal production in South India, the total coal reserves for the state stand at 22,154.86 million metric tonnes of Gondwana coal. The largest coal reserves in the country however are in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu. Neyveli is famous for lignite mining and with reserves of 80,356.21 million metric tonnes of Tertiary coal the township is one of the major hubs for development in the years to come.

On the occasion of the sale of their 10,000^th truck Pierre Jean Verge Salamon – President, Volvo Group Truck Sales, India, said that “Innovation is the key to progress and at Volvo Trucks we have been driving progress for the last 17 years in India. I am proud to announce that since the spectacular launch of our new range last year we have already sold 650 units year-to-date. I am convinced that we should continue in the direction we are moving to invest in infrastructure. The Transport and infrastructure industry play a key role in the development of a sustainable society. We have been through challenging times and I am happy to tell you that the worst is behind us. The premium truck segment year-to-date has grown more than 55pc compared to last year and Volvo trucks still has more than 60pc market share in India. The progress of India is linked to the progress of mining, infrastructure and transport industries. With the recent development of the Indian economy and with the boost of mining and infrastructure sector I am extremely convinced that the dynamism will continue. We want to maximise operations with a range of technologically advanced solutions and we want to continue being the number one in this sector.”         

Even before their first truck rolled out onto the streets, Volvo had begun a driver training program to ensure the evolution of our transport industry. Till date Volvo Trucks has successfully trained over 55,000 drivers through this program. The company has also been at the forefront of pioneering technology for the transport industry. Their 8x4 tipper trucks revolutionised the industry and the latest FMX 8x4 Tipper stands testament to that as it is the most preferred truck in its class. Volvo Trucks also introduced the I-shift technology, automated gearboxes and Volvo telematics solutions, all to ensure a higher productivity and profitability of its customers. Working in synergy with their core value of safety Volvo Trucks was the first to introduce crash tested cabins to the Indian market. In the past 17 years in India, no Volvo Truck has been involved in a fatal accident making its cabins one of the safest in the world. 

Volvo Trucks announces India Fuel Watch 2015 winner

 Rahul Kapoor

 Volvo Trucks India has announced the winner of the India Fuel Watch competition. P Ravi of SV Engineering Construction has claimed the crown of the most fuel efficient driver.

As P Ravi, from SV Engineering now goes on to compete in the Asia round of the Fuel Watch competition, Kameshwar Rao from Mahalakshmi Infracontracts finished 2^nd and D Ganapathi of Sushee Infra claimed the 3^rd spot. The Indi Final was held in the coal mine of Kothagudem, Andhra Pradesh from June 7-9, 2015.

Volvo Trucks India Fuel watch was initiated in 2010 and the 6^th edition of the completion was concluded on June 9, 2015. The competition is aimed at helping drivers build their competency and bring out the best fuel efficiency from Volvo trucks in real-life mining conditions in a safe and efficient way.

39 Volvo truck customers were eligible for participation and a total of 210 drivers participated from 19 mining sites in regional round. 15 drivers across the country were selected through regional rounds and were put through a 5km long track four different times i.e. total 20kms, first the drivers will have to drive the Volvo FMX trucks with the iShift AMT and then the manual tippers with no load and then the same trucks on the same track with full and equal load. The total average of all four runs will then be the final score of the driver.

At the end of each run the data is downloaded using Dynafleet Online trip manager. The officials also looked at the technique utilised by the drivers and took it into consideration on the grounds of safety and driving attitude. In the rare occasion of a tie, the time taken by the respective drivers will be considered and the driver who has taken the least amount of time to achieve the goal will be crown champion.

Drivers play a crucial role in the overall profitability from the trucks. Volvo Trucks is focused on improving fuel-efficiency and thereby increasing customers’ profitability, while encouraging safe driving practices and environmental care through reduction in emissions.

Tiger Global invests $12m in electric vehicle start-up Ather Energy

A little known company based in Bangalore, Ather Energy which is currently designing an electric two-wheeler, has received funding of US $12 million (Rs 75.33 crore) from Tiger Global. The new round of funding will be used for development, testing, production and the launch of Ather’s first smart electric two-wheeler – the Ather S340. Ather will be joining the likes of Hero Eco and others in the electric two wheeler industry.

 “Ather Energy aims to build smart, connected electric vehicles of the future. We want to offer the Indian consumer a completely new driving experience by developing a product that would be at par with any petrol or electric two-wheelers available in the market today. This investment will help us continue to evolve our product and scale it towards launch. We are very excited with the interest shown by Tiger Global and all our investors”, said Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy, in a press statement.

 Ather had received its first seed fund of US $1 million in late 2014 from Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, founders of Flipkart, and Raju Venkatraman of Medall Healthcare, which provided the initial impetus for Ather’s growth plans.

Lee Fixel from Tiger Global said, “We are impressed with Ather’s vision of building smart electric vehicles that have a potential to revolutionise the driving experience. We see great potential in Ather’s product offering and the technology and are confident that their maiden launch will attract tremendous positive response. We look forward to partnering with the Ather team and bring their vision to fruition.”

The Ather-S340 is a connected vehicle powered by lithium-Ion battery pack, featuring a digital touchscreen dashboard, has a light-weight aluminium chassis and offers a top speed of 75 kmph. It has been designed by Ather from ground-up and will be the first electric scooter to be completely designed & manufactured in India. Some of the features in the smart dashboard will enable users to create personalized profiles, choose riding modes and set other ride preferences. The S340 will also be one of the first connected vehicles in the country. This will ensure that all vehicle data is constantly logged and monitored enabling on-board diagnostics and issuing notifications for any maintenance.

Ather is currently at an advanced stage of integration on the vehicle platform and testing of the functional prototype. Test rides are scheduled for October this year and the company is already seeing an increasing number of sign-ups for the same on their website. The Ather-S340 is planned for launch in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi by early 2016.

Ather Energy is the brainchild of IIT-Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. The idea of developing a smart electric two-wheeler which would compete with the best in the market was incubated in 2013, at their alma mater’s Engineering Design Department under the mentorship of Prof. Krishna Kumar and later under the Incubation Cell at IIT Madras.