Industrial Automation Magazine India

Vehicle development cycle and its adaptability are not in accord with each other

Published on : Thursday 13-02-2020

P Praveen Rao, Management Consultant and Domain Expert.

What is the Future of Mobility in the near, medium and long term?
 

Mobility is our lifeline and due to the emerging technologies, there is a dramatic change in the urbanisation.

People have Metros, Monorails, local trains, community buses; App based taxis and their own vehicles and therefore our desire for mobility started growing day by day but it also have repercussions, i.e., noisy and crowded cities with congestion and smog.

With immediate effect, mobility has to go all out towards integrated and personalised travel and that too environment-friendly. The daily commute have to be more efficient and less expensive even when utilising several different modes of transport for a single trip.

Is the automobile industry ready for this transition?
Industry is not ready 100% because consumers are not ready. Vehicle development cycle and its adaptability are not in accord with each other. This transition will be lengthy; as most of the world’s automakers have pressed ahead with battery electric (BEV) options and hydrogen fuel cell technology, but still the traditional fuels have a major share, which is not being ruled out.

In recent times, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced it would cut its permitted vehicle growth rate from 0.25% per year to 0%, as per Reuter’s reports. The government said the move, which will be reviewed in 2020, was due to land scarcity and billions of dollars in planned public transit ventures. Such steps are required globally if any transition is planned.

A leading automobile manufacturer describes itself as Smart Mobility Solutions Provider. Not a product, but a solution?
Today the offering approach of almost all industries shifted from a box or product to a complete integrated solution stack and that is because of market transition, which shifted from a traditional product-selling ecosystem to a complete solution availability.

Consumers are looking for proactive and predictive solutions in terms of Safety, Entertainment and Connectivity so they expects a centralised and integrated solution addressing their needs. Numerous trends, ranging from energy fragmentation to the AI, IoT and Machine Learning have arrived and will drastically change mobility systems over the next 10 to 15 years.

Therefore, now the market shifted from a product to a complete solution offering.

Do electric vehicles need incentives or is it in need of infrastructure?

Yes, India still do not have a mechanism, which provides a great and stable infrastructure for Electric Vehicles or any such incentives. Whatever is available that is minimal and not up to the mark.

We need some large campaigns from government and need to take some important strategic decisions like attractive and lucrative electric vehicle policy, which will force the vehicles owners to think and invest.

What should be the ideal mix of urban transportation?
The ideal mix of urban transportation is a combination of alternate powered options like Electric and Hydrogen fuel cells, more on-demand transport with effective use of innovation.

This combination has to cover the “last-mile” at every level of urban transportation. The mobility systems of the future are likely to be very different from what exists today. An individual traveller is at the Centre, so consumers will need to affiliate with new technologies and services.

P Praveen Rao is a Management Consultant with 15+ years in various business transformation, strategic consulting & business development assignments. He is a Digital Transformation expert & a certified Smart City Professional. He is associated with some Large State and Central government projects and playing strategy and policy advisory roles. As a Process Analyst, he consistently provides factual, strategic and actionable insights with clear roadmap to achieve optimisation in processes, reduction in cost and desired revenue targets of the client using the right technology platforms and futuristic emerging technologies. Apart from this Praveen Rao is a Wildlife enthusiast with Photography as a key hobby and always attempts to educate people about the valuable endangered wildlife species and the importance of preserving natural resources.