For more than a century, burning fossil fuels has generated most of the energy required to propel our transportation needs. Using fossil fuels for energy has exacted an enormous toll on humanity and the environment including air, water pollution and global warming. It is now the right time to explore alternate energy sources like battery electric vehicles, natural gas vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles, and flexible fuel vehicles.

The future - Electric Vehicles

Today, the battery electric vehicles (BEV) are seen as the most favorite and efficient alternative to fossil fuel vehicles as compared to other alternate fuel vehicles.

With battery electric vehicles becoming part of our everyday commute, the implementation and optimization of charging infrastructure will face new challenges. Energy-efficient smart charging, self-charging and durable vehicle batteries, high-tech charging roadways, and self-sufficient charging stations that save and transmit energy between home and car – these will be the need of the hour. The opportunities reach far beyond what we have accomplished today.

We believe that success for battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufacturers lies in providing user-friendly and convenient electric vehicle charging infrastructure. They could further collaborate with utility companies and charging station network providers (typically electric vehicle supply equipment manufacturers) to optimize load patterns and gain insights into charging patterns of vehicles. At the same time, it is critical for BEV manufacturers to adopt battery technology that provides long driving range with a single charge. They must implement cloud connectivity and the ecosystem to help drivers locate and plan charging processes efficiently.

Several countries in the world are piloting alternate methods to support battery electric vehicles by providing electrified highway / wireless charging that addresses the biggest challenge in BEV adoption – ‘range anxiety’.  Wireless electric vehicle charging is not a gimmick anymore. It is a useful feature that will transform the way we use road-based transportation.

While wireless charging is technologically possible, it still needs to overcome challenges such as improving energy efficiency and higher cost of developing the infrastructure. However, the benefits of wireless charging have so much appeal that it’s only a matter of time until it becomes mainstream.

Recently Germany electrified part of its autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstardt to facilitate charging while driving targeting heavy / long haul vehicles. Similarly, electric truck driving on a public road with Elways ground-level power supply, near Arlanda airport, Sweden is another example.

Taking performance to new heights

In 2020 and beyond, automotive manufacturers need CASE (Connected-Automated-Shared-Electric) vehicles complemented with cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence / machine learning, augmented reality and virtual reality. These trends will give drivers, passengers and manufacturers elevated levels of performance and convenience. At Wipro’s Industrial and Engineering Services, we have been working with automotive manufacturers and helping them with digital transformation. Our Engineering NXT framework creates products, platforms and technologies at scale. 

Wipro collaborates with customers to deliver tangible value through effective customization, faster time to market, next-generation technology integration, new-age products and platforms, innovation, and reduced risk. Wipro aligns its BEV strategy to CASE. Technological advances in these areas are greatly changing the way the vehicles are built, sold and used.

Wipro’s innovative solutions to build efficient ecosystem for BEV charging include: 

• 5G enabled cloud connectivity for enhanced customer experience through BEV specific protocol integrations and efficient charge planning 
• Digital solutions with cutting technologies such as AI and ML to enhance and optimize BEV ecosystem performances
• Highly efficient scalable hardware solutions to provide efficient charging performance 
• Advanced software control logic to offer safe and reliable charging solutions

Wipro’s extensive expertise in embedded and cloud engineering clubbed with hardware and mechanical engineering along with validation, verification and compliance testing help accelerate this journey for customers. This approach will help significantly with emerging technologies demanded by the Electric Vehicle mobility segment. 

Next generation connectivity solutions such as Vehicle to everything (V2X) and autonomous systems will continue to make battery electric vehicles a seamless experience.

Sujith Nair

Sujith has been working with Wipro for close to 15 years and has extensive experience in the automotive domain. He is currently heading GTM globally for autonomous, electrification and robotics in Wipro’s Industrial and Engineering Services.

For more information, contact him at sujith.nair2@wipro.com

Sathishkumar Parsuvanathan

Sathish has worked extensively in the automotive electrical and electronics domain for 20 years. Presently heading the EV Practice with Wipro’s Industrial and Engineering Services division, he is working on the development and deployment of EV solutions. 

For more information, contact him at sathish.parsuvanathan@wipro.com