A contemporary electrical automobile (EV) is about numerous superior {hardware} and software program engineering. Numerous water could also be used to scrub it, however not as a tech differentiator. For Exponent Vitality, a Bengaluru-based know-how startup, water is the differentiating issue for its core pitch of an industry-leading 0-100% battery cost in quarter-hour, for every type of EVs, because it claims.
The three-year previous startup, additionally backed by Pawan Munjal, and the Motherson Group, has two principal goals to construct its enterprise on – charging an EV as rapidly as doable, and a battery that prices as little as doable. “For this, we needed to rethink the stack. The primary stack was how do I take an everyday lithium ion cell and cost it up? There numerous issues are on BMS and our charging algorithms. And as we achieved success in that, we ended up within the second drawback, the generated warmth,” Exponent Vitality’s Founder and CEO Arun Vinayak recounted the tech growth course of.
In response to the engineer-CEO, a 15-minute quick charging generates 256 occasions extra warmth than the {industry} common of a 4-hour charging cycle. Until extracted, overheating will stall the charging. The perfect thermal vary or a ‘candy spot’ is 25-35°C. With liquid cooling, Vinayak mentioned, one of the best that may be achieved is 50°C.A HVAC (Heating, Air flow, Air-Conditioning) system holds the answer. Nonetheless, it’s an costly proposition, particularly for three-wheelers. Might not for a Tesla. It has an on-board HVAC system costing an estimated INR 2 lakh, for the thermal management of the battery pack. An HVAC system for an electrical two-wheeler is estimated to value round INR 1 lakh. That’s greater than the worth of some fashions out there as we speak.
The key sauce
And, that’s what triggered the thought of creating the HVAC system part of an Exponent’s charging station. The 600 amps charger additionally pumps out refrigerated water (10°C) to forestall the battery pack from going bonkers. Each charging station has capability to retailer 30 litres of water, which get recycled. Exponent Vitality has obtained a patent for this know-how, in India, and a few abroad markets.
The BMS (Battery Administration System) needs to be strong too to make sure environment friendly charging with minimal degradation to the cells. An improper BMS can result in Li-ion crowding across the battery’s anode, main to what’s referred to as ‘lithium plating’, leading to vital cell degradation.
Every charging station or ‘e-pump’ has 6kW of cooling energy. With this know-how strategy, Exponent Vitality claims that electrical 3-wheelers with its tech can do the identical responsibility cycles as different electrical cargo carriers of equal measurement, with a 30% smaller battery pack. It claims the three-wheeler will be extra reasonably priced by round 30% too.
The situation nevertheless is that the 3-wheeler needs to be geared up with Exponent Vitality’s battery pack and connector. It needs to be charged in an Exponent station. These 3-wheelers will also be quick charged in a DC charger in an hour, or sluggish charged in a house AC charger.
With the situations of utilizing its battery pack, connector, and charging station to deal with a significant situation of vary nervousness for EVs, one may even see Exponent Vitality’s strategy as unique, and due to this fact non-democratic. “We’re not attempting to democratise know-how. We are attempting to democratise EVs. We are attempting to democratise vitality for EVs and make them extra reasonably priced,” Vinayak mentioned.
Constant quick charging isn’t advisable for EV battery packs, to keep up their well being. Including one other know-how guess, Exponent Vitality affords a guaranty of three,000 charging cycles for its battery pack. It says this strategy has been validated by TUV India, an unbiased testing laboratory of TUV Nord Group, Germany.
In response to the startup, TUV discovered 13% degradation after 3000 charging cycles of 15-minute fast charging. And that’s ‘3-4x’ higher than the {industry} common, Vinayak mentioned throughout a presentation. The Exponent battery pack consists of LFP cells.
Growth plans
At the moment, Exponent Vitality has 30 charging stations throughout Bengaluru, 20 of that are run by franchisees. Every of them prices INR 5 lakh. With the 15-minute quick charging tech, the enterprise case will get higher. “You want roughly 15 costs a day. 10 is a borderline case. Should you’re under 10 costs a day in any station around the globe, you are not going to be worthwhile,” Vinayak mentioned.
However, for Exponent Vitality to get the crucial volumes, it wants extra OEMs to undertake its know-how stack. At the moment, electrical 3-wheeler maker Altigreen is the one one. Vinayak is hopeful of getting a couple of extra, together with a bus maker, as companions inside the subsequent 6 months. By the top of FY24, Exponent Vitality plans to be current in 5 extra cities – Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Ahmedabad.
With these plans, the startup expects to breakeven in a “couple of years”. For funds, it has raised USD 18 million up to now, which Vinayak says places Exponent Vitality in a snug place for now.
Will Exponent Vitality’s tech be a recreation changer within the rising Indian EV {industry}? The reply can be clear inside a yr or so, but it surely does stand as a disruptive thought that would gasoline the collaboration development additional within the automotive {industry}.
Additionally, on this disruptive age, might or not it’s that another person is engaged on a good quicker charging tech?
