Bangalore, December 26 2019:  The largest conference on transportation electrification in India drew  over 1000 delegates to Bangalore last week as they presented over  150 technical papers on topics such as Challenges to meet Vision 2030, Power Electronics, EV Architecture & Charging, Component Optimisation, Battery Management System and Policies regarding EVs, electrification of heavy-duty vehicles and Smart Materials.
The exposition featured 25 stalls from companies like AVL, Mahindra Electric, Valeo, Ansys, Dassault Systemes and others who showcased pioneering, cutting-edge solutions for e-mobility.
Dr David Schutt, CEO, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) said the ultimate aim was the Power of Zero: zero congestion, zero accidents, zero fatalities. "We know what needs to be done, but not how to do it", he added, emphasising the slow but sure shift from the driver  to the system. However  AI and Machine Learning arte still at their infancy even after 30 years he said.
The conference included three Plenary Sessions with industry members such as Mr. P.K. Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM; Mrs. Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, ARAI; Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IIT Madras; Mr. Matthias Brendel, Global Vice President, Electrification, AVL; Dr. Zed Tang, Global Solution Architect, ANSYS; Dr. Arunkumar Sampath, Chief Engineer and Head Innovation, Mahindra Electric; Dr. Tomy Sebastian, IPP, IEEE IAS; Mr. Steven Dom, Automotive Solution Manager, Siemens PLM, Belgium; Mr. Greg Harris, Global Leader for Electrification, HORIBA MIRA, Germany; Mr. C.P Vyas, President-Electrification Business, ABB India; Mr. Martin Murray, CTO, Mahindra Electric; Mr. Guillaume Gerondeau - Vice President Global Dassault Systems, Tokyo;
Two Leadership Forums were held on Day 2 and Day 3. The first forum focused on the topic ‘Electric Vehicle - Boon or Bane for the automotive industry?” with panelists such as Mr. Karthik Ganesan, Head of EV Marketing and Solutions Design, Ashok Leyland Limited; Mr. Vikram Gulati, Country Head & VP, Toyota Kirloskar; Mr. Anurag Garg, Country Head Powertrain India, Vitesco Technologies; Mr. Raghav Gulur VP& Head, ZF India; Mr. Sunil Motwani, Industry Director, Mathworks; Mr. Sridhar Dharmarajan, M.D, Hexagon and was moderated by Mr. Sumantra Barooah, Editor, Autocar Professional
“India needs affordable EV solutions for mass transportation. We need to create local solutions with global technology. India has the most shared mobility if we look at three wheelers and by 2040 we need to reach 50% of all mobility to shared mobility," said Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric Mobility.
Added Dr. Bala Bharadvaj, M.D., Boeing India Engineering & Technology Centre and President SAEIndia: “Complexities give us the opportunity to innovate. From that perspective, iTEC India 2019 gave us the opportunity to discuss the complexities and address the challenges in the eMobility landscape. The ‘eMobility’ that we know, also needs to be changed, we need to move towards ‘WeMobility’.” 
iTEC Hackathon
This year’s edition included the ‘iTEC Hackathon’ for the first time, focusing on 6 problem statements exploring last-mile connectivity, battery technology and shared mobility. The hackathon intended to provide a platform for people to ideate for innovative solutions for India-specific e-Mobility problems. Ten teams were shortlisted from over 100 teams, competing for a cash prize of Rs. One lakh and Rs. 50,000.
‘Team Praxians’ from Government Technical College, Coimbatore were the winners of the Hackathon and ‘Safety First’ from Mahindra Electric were the runners up. The winners and the runner up team were also given a chance to present at the iTEC conference to an audience of more than 600 people on the 3rd day of the conference.
iTEC Ride & Drive
iTEC India also included a ‘Ride & Drive’ session, showcasing a 48V hybrid engine by Valeo, which caught the attention of many delegates at the conference.