Introducing Eva, India’s First Solar-Electric car - Vayve Mobility Executives on Harnessing the Power of the sun

One type of EVs that are still quite rare are the ones that are powered by solar energy. And so, when Pune-based Vayve Mobility unveiled its solar-powered EV, Eva, at the Auto Expo 2023 held at Greater Noida, Auto Futures had to find out more about the company. 

“It was founded in 2021 with the objective to design vehicles to reshape urban commute. We believe, to enable mass adoption of EV Technology in our country, we need purpose-built ground-up solutions. This requires exploration of innovative platforms with an eye on global trends,” says Nilesh Bajaj, CEO of Vayve Mobility. 

“Exposure to harsh environmental conditions (heavy rains, extreme temperature, pollution, noise) and lack of safety render two-wheelers unsuitable for daily needs of upscale urban commuters. And at the same time, increasing city traffic congestion makes four-wheelers difficult to navigate and park. Average occupancy in a car is less than 1.5 pax in the city. We want to challenge the status quo by introducing a 2-seater car which meets the need of city commuters for 95% of their daily use,” he adds. 

Eva is a smart car specially designed for comfortable and convenient city driving needs in India. It has space for 2 adults and one child, taking only half the space of a regular car in traffic and parking.

Vayve's COO, Vilas Deshpande, explains: “Eva is a smart car specially designed for comfortable and convenient city driving needs in India. It has space for 2 adults and one child, taking only half the space of a regular car in traffic and parking. Eva is India’s first solar-electric car, which can give 10-12 km of free charge purely from solar energy. With a 14kWh Battery pack, on a full charge, it has a test range of 250 km. It has interiors designed for comfortable city driving needs. It also has an Active Liquid Cooled battery pack suited for Indian climate, and can be conveniently charged at home at a standard 15A socket or at fast charging stations up to 80% in 45 min." 

“People were excited to see the first Solar-Electric Car concept. They found the smart looks quite appealing and the narrow body car perfect for their daily run. The interiors of the car were most talked about, and people appreciated the practicality. The infotainment system supporting Android Auto/ Apple Carplay caught everyone’s attention as well,” notes Deshpande.

Bajaj explains that the average Indian household income has tripled in the last decade. Moreover, customer behaviour has evolved from cars being exclusively a family vehicle, to being supplemented with purchase of personal vehicles for daily commute. This led to Vayve Mobility zeroing in on the urban city car segment for their first vehicle. 

“Over the last few years, there has been significant development in photovoltaics. Efficiency has increased while the weight and cost have gone down. We have managed to hit the sweet spot between the weight of the car (550 kg) and the size of the solar panel. An Indian customer’s personal vehicle travels 30 km a day on average. So, even if you're getting 10 km per day from solar, that's 30% of your commute just from solar,” says Bajaj. 

Easing the Urban Driving Experience

Photovoltaic (PV) panels are an expensive piece of technology. The question remains on how the addition of this technology would fare in a price-sensitive market like India.

“The panels are costly, but the overall cost depends on the overall capacity and size of the panel. When doing a rooftop or a solar farm installation, the numbers sound big, but with a small surface area of the car, it does not result in an exorbitantly priced vehicle,” explains Saurabh Mehta, CTO of Vayve.

“At the same time, with volumes and technology improvements, we get either a lower cost or a much better panel efficiency. Based on our analysis, a user will recover the additional cost of the solar panel on the vehicle in approximately 2 years - even with such a low running cost.” 

Speaking about the technologies that feature on Eva, as it moves into production, Mehta says: “We believe that a modern car has to make use of the latest technology features to make the driving experience better for the user.”

To that end, some features of this unique EV include tyre pressure monitoring, vehicle diagnostics, GPS and trip statistics, park assist, rear-view cameras, rear cross-traffic alert, forward collision warning, blind spot monitoring, as well as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

“There are a few more features that are under R&D, which will be revealed once they are production ready. These advanced ADAS features will go a long way in easing the driving experience within the city,” he adds. 

There are whispers that many other players want to enter the personal EV market in India. In fact, there have been reports that some of India’s best-selling OEMs are eyeing this space.

Deshpande agrees, and says: “Personal EV Market is untapped, and we see several players both legacy OEM and start-ups, launching vehicles to cater to this space. Traffic congestion and pollution are critical issues and mini mobility and electrification trends are the best solutions to address these. This new category in the Indian Electric Vehicle ecosystem will have a low impact on the electrical grid and physical infrastructure. The segment is going to witness substantial increase in demand in coming years.”

The Rise of Mini-Mobility

Eva is looking to launch early next year, with deliveries starting mid next year. Prices would be revealed closer to the launch when pre-bookings would open. Vayve plans to run a pilot in three cities before launching pan-India through a dealership network.

“We are in the process of developing a local supplier ecosystem to improve control on the supply chain and reduce dependency on imports. We are working with Tier-1 Automotive suppliers to ensure high quality standards,” says Deshpande, speaking about the company’s production plans, adding that there are also plans to open a small capacity unit near Pune early in 2024.

“Mini-Mobility as a new segment is getting traction world-over. At Vayve, we plan to export to India-like markets in South-east Asia, Middle East, Africa, and South America,” says Bajaj.

Vayve Mobility is currently working on a 5-seater taxi model on its signature chassis platform. The company is hoping that the vehicle’s 400 litre luggage capacity, as well as its low total cost of ownership would make it an attractive proposition for fleet space.

But that’s not the only exciting development the future holds for this promising electric mobility company.

“We plan to vertically integrate and bring battery pack technology, motor- controller and motor in-house by 2025, considering these are the most critical components in an EV giving us better control of the product development cycle,” says Deshpande.

“We have been developing products over two years, initially as a bootstrapped start-up. We are currently on our way to close a pre-seed round and looking for a bigger round from international venture capital,” he concludes.