36 | AutoPartsAsia | FEBRUARY 2018SPECIAL REPORT
In India, the three-wheeler segment
has a limited last mile connectivity
with short haul ranging anywhere
between 100 and 120 km on an
average per day. E3 fits perfectly in
that space. Moreover, the batteries
available today have a limited range
of operation and hence E3 is a good
fit as the three-wheeler operation can
be performed in one full charge.”Why Greaves?
MG is an application designer and
builder with specific expertise in the
field of composites. Greaves is an
expert and a leading player in the
three-wheeler engines segment.
“The E3 is a concept which has
been developed to demonstrate our
respective strengths in these areas
of expertise. It is designed to prove
our capabilities and for our OEM
partners in the electric three-wheeler
segment,” Kamat said.
Greaves Cotton Limited is a Rs1,800-
crore engineering company in India
with core competencies in diesel/
petrol engines, farm equipment,gensets, construction equipment and
three-wheelers segment, catering to
a few OEMs in India. The company
has diesel, petrol, CNG and now
electric three-wheeler engines. It is
a fuel-agnostic, full range engine
solution provider. “Being one of the
preferred and the largest suppliers in
this segment, it was critical for MG to
partner with Greaves in developing
the concept of E3,” he said.“We have completely replaced metal
with composites. For three-wheelers,
more than the acquisition cost, the
cost of ownership determines the
business sense for the end-user,
often an entrepreneur. Therefore,
the idea was to reduce the total
cost of ownership by minimising the
running cost; being electric-driven,
it is the lowest. Made of advanced
composites, the body is stronger and
lighter, and it increases the distance
covered and cuts the operating cost.
The tooling cost for composites is far
lower than that of the metal body. As
the cost of tooling can be recovered
in smaller volume, it is possible togive a facelift or change models at
short intervals,” he said.The E3 body is corrosion-proof
and amenable to styling due to
the flexibility of composites. It
operates silently with minimum
vibration and harshness. The
driver and passengers have
many conveniences such as LED
saloon light for good visibility
and ambience, multifunctional
mobile app configuration for a
variety of features such as battery
life, temperature, navigation,
ergonomically designed passenger
seats and widescreen road view.
With a focused approach in
partnerships and collaborations with
its technical partners and skilled
engineers, the prototype was built
in 45 days. With the state-of-the-
art facility and design engineering
capabilities the company was able to
accelerate the pace of development
and achieve maximum precision,
quality and conformity during the
proto build gates at each phase of
the development. “Having the R&D
centre at MG Composites was critical
to achieving our goals in a very
short time. The synergy between the
group companies, West & Deccan
and MG Composites, was the
winning combination to bring E3 to
life,” Kamat said.About the vendors developed for this
project and the list of components
outsourced, he said, “For the
prototype we had vendors only for
the most critical parts. We relied
on the off-the-shelf accessories
and parts available in the market.
However, if we decide to produce
E3s with an OEM partner we will
build the required vendor base.”SPECIAL REPORT