Focusing primarily on the electric 2/3-Wheeler market, Maxwell Energy is on a mission to accelerate the earth’s transition to an all-electric future. Over a period of 5+ years with a strong and capable R&D team of 80+ engineers based in India, the company has developed a BMS from the ground up, including the hardware, firmware and software. In an exclusive interview with Niloy from EV MECHANICA, Sahil Faxwala | Head of Sales & Marketing | Maxwell Energy Systems drives across the journey of the company aligning with the world’s largest Automotive OEMs and Battery Pack Makers. He also talks about whether the EV Revolution in India is true and what more is needed to reach that tipping point in the Indian EV space. Edited Excerpts Below.
Kindly tell our readers about Maxwell Energy Systems and the company’s key focus, offerings and R&D strength.
Maxwell Energy is on a mission to accelerate the earth’s transition to an all-electric future. We design and develop advanced electronics and software for OEMs in the electric vehicle and energy storage system (ESS) space. Maxwell started its journey by building its first flagship product – the Battery Management System. The BMS is the brain of the battery pack and is critical to the safety and performance of the battery and vehicle asset. We’ve developed our BMS from the ground up, including the hardware, firmware and software, over a period of 5+ years with a strong and capable R&D team of 80+ engineers based in India. Today, Maxwell partners with some of the world’s largest Automotive OEMs to provide innovative and cutting-edge technology for EVs. Our focus remains on expanding our electronics offerings to our key clientele and new OEMs as we transition toward a sustainable future.
The key auto OEMs Maxwell Energy Systems has been working and pipeline strategies to cater for a wider EV market. And any key reasons that the company has been vitally focusing on just the two- and three-wheeler segments?
Maxwell’s focus has primarily been the electric 2/3-Wheeler market as this segment is experiencing the start of exponential growth. If you look at Calendar Year 2022 numbers, the total EV sales amounted to almost 10 (ten) lakh units. Out of this 10L, more than 90% of the sales are in the 2&3-Wheeler space. We’re seeing really fast adoption in the 2/3-W segment and this will eventually pass on to the 4W segment once the challenges around range anxiety, fast charging and charging infrastructure are addressed to the satisfaction of the end-user. Maxwell’s ambition definitely remains to tap the e-4W segment slowly and gradually as the market matures and business potential increases over the next few years. We believe we have the team, capability and understanding to develop quick, reliable and cutting-edge solutions for the e-4W market and other segments.
Maxwell Energy today is working with some of the world’s largest Automotive OEMs and Battery Pack Makers. NDAs and confidentiality agreements prohibit us from naming these players, but in the next few weeks, you’ll hear about some of our key industry partnerships via joint press releases.
Research on BMS algorithms so far has predominantly focused on the first use of the battery pack. The batteries retired from the EVs are still an excellent medium of renewable energy storage in other applications, any thoughts on it?
The EV revolution in India has only just begun. It’s true that batteries retired from EVs are typically at 75-80% usable capacity, thus providing excellent means to be reused in energy storage applications where discharge requirements are not as demanding. But Maxwell Energy is yet to see a significant number of battery packs reaching their end-of-life from an EV performance standpoint. The European and a few other Global markets are ahead in 2nd life battery usage as the deployment of certain EVs (such as the Nissan Leaf) started a decade back. We expect this trend to begin in India in the next 3-4 years as batteries will begin coming in for 2nd life usage. A few companies are already forging partnerships with OEMs and building businesses around 2nd life deployments.
Maxwell has worked with a few players in the European market that have used retired EV batteries for ESS applications. Our BMS is designed to manage the degraded State-of-Health of the battery pack and recalibrate algorithms to support 2nd life usage.
What challenges do you see in the current EV market in India in terms of awareness, technological adoption and aptness, talent pool, supply chain and ecosystem?
From a retail standpoint, the major challenge remains around the cost of EVs and the lack of charging infrastructure. An end consumer, especially in non-urban areas, may not look at TCO (or total cost of ownership). For Maxwelll Energy, the upfront cost determines their purchase decision and EV prices are yet to reach reasonable thresholds without compromising on technology, performance, and safety. Adding to this, the presence of sporadic charging infrastructure continues to play a major factor in range anxiety.
EVs and their components/sub-components are also heavily dependent on critical raw materials – lithium, cobalt, semiconductors, etc. The absence of a local supply chain puts heavy dependency on imports, thereby further burdening the costs and manufacturing of EVs. While the government has taken the necessary steps via PLI schemes for cell and semiconductor manufacturing, the plant and fabrication lines will have a lead time before impacting prices and the supply chain positively.
Talent pool had been a challenge that seems to be getting mitigated relatively quickly as OEMs and their suppliers have started upskilling their human resources for the imminent transition to an all-electric future.
How do you look into AIS156 amendments which are said to have brought straining effects and confusion across the stakeholders? The implication, market response and consumer safety you see with these new phase-wise amendments.
The Govt. of India along with other regulatory bodies has played a pivotal role in enabling faster adoption of electric vehicles. In light of the recent EV incidents, the entire industry welcomes government initiatives and policies to address safety concerns and drive the industry toward innovative tech. Having said that, the AIS156 amendment has definitely impacted stakeholders in the value chain. Maxwell Energy believes the majority of the OEMs were reliant on Chinese suppliers for batteries and non-smart BMS solutions. Additionally, there weren’t enough safety mechanisms deployed within battery packs to prevent thermal runaway incidents.
The short-term implication would be directly on OEM sales/revenues as the design & development, validation, and (re)homologation cycle for battery pack and vehicle are long. While the government has heard the stakeholder voice to implement the amendment in 2 phases, the ambiguity around certain guidelines accompanied by aggressive deadlines (Apr 1st) could become challenging for quite a few OEMs.
Having said that, the AIS156 amendment was a necessary mandate to address potentially serious problems in the long term. This will address a massive safety concern for retail buyers thereby making it a massive win for the OEMs and the industry overall.
What new market launches can we expect from Maxwell Energy Systems and key competitors in the market?
Maxwell is working on a range of advanced electronics for EVs and ESS. This is currently part of our product roadmap and we intend to launch new hardware and cloud software solutions in the market over the next 12-18 months. This is currently under wraps and we will release more information as we move toward the commercialization of the new products.
The recent AIS156 amendment is the first step towards acknowledging the importance of BMS and battery safety. We expect new amendments to come into place in line with the European and global markets. Functional Safety (ISO26262) is not yet a mandatory requirement in the Indian context. We expect serious players in the industry to work towards achieving this. Additionally, the Govt. is also working on a new set of guidelines for standardizing protocols and swappable battery packs. We expect stakeholders to work towards developing solutions that enable interoperability via common protocols.
