The International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) on Tuesday launched the third edition of India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) innovation challenge: EVangelise.
Minister of state for cottage industries, industries and cooperation Jagdish Vishwakarma was present at the launch ceremony in Ahmedabad. iCreate has opened entries for the event which will conclude in December.
This year, the challenge aims to raise its impact by expanding the scope to cover various classes of vehicles including heavy electric vehicles, earthmovers and mining trucks.
“The aim of EVangelise 23 is to identify and nurture game-changing innovations, which can help solve real-life challenges in our EV ecosystem. One of the main challenges is our dependence on foreign technology and components for all classes of electric vehicles,” said Avinash Punekar, the CEO of iCreate.
Thanks to startups working in the EV sector, dependence on foreign parts and technology has been reduced because these entities have indigenised 85% of components currently used in electric vehicles, mainly for two-wheelers and three-wheelers, he said.
“This year, our focus is on developing components for four-wheelers and heavy vehicles, such as earthmovers and mining trucks,” said Punekar.
To nurture startups working in this area, iCreate has signed an MoU with Technology Innovation in Exploration & Mining Foundation (TEXMiN), a mining technology innovation hub of the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad.
About the event, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel said, “As we embark on a journey towards a cleaner and greener future, the rise of electric mobility plays a pivotal role in shaping our civic mobility and infrastructure. Through collective efforts and challenges such as EVangelise, India will become a global leader in the electric vehicle industry.”
