Fortum India, & Business Sweden launch Unnati Change & Drive Innovation Challenge

Unnati Challenge

Fortum India, & Business Sweden launch Unnati Change & Drive Innovation Challenge

  • To jointly develop battery swap system for light electric vehicles with Indian partners
  • To accelerate innovation in LEV battery swapping technology

 

New Delhi, 10th December 2018: Fortum India, a leading clean energy company, and Business Sweden, the Swedish Trade and Invest Council, have announced the launch of the Unnati Change & Drive Innovation Challenge. This challenge aims to accelerate electrification of three wheelers in India through jointly developing a battery swap system tailored specially for light electric vehicles (LEVs) in India.

Taking LEV battery swapping to the next level requires designing digital infrastructure and developing hardware to support a sustainable business model. With an aim to accelerate innovation in LEV battery swapping technology, the Indo-Sweden joint declaration on Innovation Partnership for a Sustainable Future invited entries from researchers and innovators, to work alongside Fortum to develop standard infrastructure for LEV battery swapping in India; which received 70 entries, out of which 16 have been shortlisted to make their pitch during the 3 days event. The challenge is being coordinated by the Swedish Trade and Invest Council, in collaboration with ATAL Innovation Mission - NITI Aayog. The selected participants have been invited to the three-day event starting 10th December in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore respectively to present their ideas to the panel.  

The inaugural event in Delhi saw eminent speakers gracing the event including Mr. Carsten Grönblad, Swedish Trade Commissioner to India; Mr. R.Ramanan, Managing Director, Atal Innovation Mission - NITI Aayog; Ms. Saloni Malhotra, Vice President, Invest India and Head – AGNIi; Mr. Ajay Goel, Chief Operating Officer, Sun Mobility; Mr. Awadhesh Jha, Vice President, Charge & Drive, Fortum and Mr. Erik Tutzauer, Innovation Accelerator, Fortum; among others. The panel discussions during the event deliberated on designing digital infrastructure and developing hardware to support a sustainable and customer-centric business model.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Carsten Grönblad, Swedish Trade Commissioner to India, said, “UNNATI is a model for co-innovation allowing industry, start-ups and the civil society to jointly develop solutions addressing global social needs. This challenge calls for collaboration to advance sustainable infrastructure for LEV battery swapping in India. This is an important task as we see electrification of urban transportation as a key to improve local and global environment and provide citizens with affordable and accessible mobility services. We are happy to partner with Fortum, AGNIi and Atal Innovation Mission – NITI Aayog, Nasscom and Indian Angel Network amongst others, with the vision of bridging Indian and Swedish innovators.”

Speaking about the challenge, Mr. Erik Tutzauer, Innovation Accelerator, Fortum, said, “We believe that utilising a battery swap system will further increase the market share for electric vehicles in India. We see India as an important market. The Indian Government's vision to achieve 30% electric mobility by 2030 is well aligned with Fortum's vision. In keeping with this, we recently signed an agreement with Sweden-based Clean Motion in order to boost the sales of light electric vehicles in India. The battery replacement system is important where the individual driver can quickly switch to fully-charged batteries instead of charging it. The goal is to create a large-scale transition that is cost effective.”

Adding to Mr. Tutzauer’s comments, Mr. Awadhesh Kumar Jha, Vice President – Charge & Drive & Sustainability, Fortum India, said, “Fortum plans to transform mobility in India. Improved battery technology at affordable prices is the need of the hour to further boost the adoption of EVs. This platform by The Swedish Trade Council and Atal Innovation Mission – NITI Aayog is a great start for us to work alongside our valuable patrons. We have received and heard some excellent ideas and we are hopeful to build an EV ecosystem to boost the sale of electric vehicles in India.”

Winners of the challenge will receive mentoring from Fortum, which will provide them the opportunity to become a commercial partner and a supporter in application of market-oriented R&D funding.

For additional information, please contact:

Vijeta Chaudhary

Principal Manager - Marketing & Communications

Fortum India

M: 9311966250 / E: vijeta [dot] chaudhary [at] fortum [dot] com

Fortum
Fortum is a leading clean-energy company that provides its customers with electricity, heating and cooling as well as smart solutions to improve resource efficiency. We want to engage our customers and society to join the change for a cleaner world. We employ some 9,000 professionals in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, Poland and India. In 2017, our sales were EUR 4.5 billion and 61% of our electricity generation was CO2 free. Fortum's share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. www.fortum.com