Solterra, a pioneering force in the electric vehicle (EV) industry, has made significant strides in the realm of EV charging solutions. With a collective experience spanning over 80 years across various domains like hardware, mechanical, software, and systems, the company is dedicated to pioneering energy conversion.
Aishwarya engaged in a thought-provoking session with Sandeep Kumar Verma, Technical & Business Development Director, Solterra about the company’s breakthroughs in charging station industry.
Can you tell me about Soltera’s key portfolio and what you are showcasing here?
Soltera’s products range from two-wheeler EV chargers to three-wheeler chargers. The company was formed in mid-2022.
Currently, we are working with almost 80+ OEMs for lithium-ion chargers and lead-acid battery chargers. We are also supplying our products to these OEMs and battery manufacturers.
Solterra has also started to focus in export business from last two months.
Do you offer customization and what services are provided in after-sales support?
We do offer a certain level of customization, as sometimes customers will ask for software customization. Compatibility and CAN communication between the charger and the vehicle play a vital role, as proper handshaking ensures the safety of electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries. If you charge the vehicle without proper communication, there is a chance that your vehicle can catch fire or have an explosion.
As per the government-defined standard, AIS 156 Amendment-III, the charger and the battery or the vehicle should have CAN communication, so that it’s safe.
This feature comes from master-slave concept wherein the vehicle or BMS will be the master and charger will be the slave. So whatever BMS demands, the charger will fulfill that power.
Solterra offers a three-year warranty on its EV chargers. Our product is IP67, which is 100% waterproof, 100% dustproof, and 100% vibration proof.
Considering the sporadic and erratic Indian weather that is very harsh and dusty with high moisture levels, climate issues may have an impact on the charger, but as Solterra designs their product according to the Indian climate, our EV Chargers are 100% sealed.
We are offering three years warranty to the OEM and for the product’s life, it is 10 years. That’s why we have faced a rejection rate of less than 0.5% in last two years.
What type of EV Chargers do you offer and are they off-board or on-board chargers?
Typically, there are three kinds of EV chargers. One is portable charger, like you carry the portable charger for mobile.
The second is an off-board charger, where you put one stationary location and you install the charger on one wall in a residential or commercial area. And the third category is on-board chargers.
Our EV chargers can be used as a portable one, as an off-board charger, as well as an on-board charger. We are offering all types of options to our clients as per their requirements.
What is the USP of your EV chargers?
Solterra has a reputation for providing reliable products to the market. The key feature of our EV chargers is that they come with a CAN boot loader.
If an OEM will install, say, 100 chargers and deploy 100 chargers, and they want to upgrade the firmware, and software of the charger, there are mainly two ways of doing it.
One way is that it needs to be opened from the back side, insert the tool, and upgrade the firmware. However, what we are offering is CAN boot loader. With DC pins, you can connect the tool without opening a complete charger and can also upgrade the firmware.
In India, every state has a different grid, and it ranges from 90 volts to 300 volts.
Solterra’s product complies with the 80 volt to 300 volt range. For the input side, the DC side, sometimes customers say we need a voltage range up to 60 volts. Sometimes customers say we need a voltage of up to 65 volts or up to 67 volts. In that case, we increase the output voltage range according to the client’s requirements.
In 48 volt category, our product complies by 73 volt. Earlier, our voltage range was 66 volts.
We have increased the bandwidth of the output voltage so that most users and OEMs can take advantage of the same capacity of the charger.
Solterra is offering the complete range, as our chargers are for all types of vehicles, like two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers. Specifically, for two-wheelers, the current ranges from 5 A to 30 A.
In the three-wheeler category, the range starts at 20 amperes and it goes up to 80 amperes. The range depends on the battery capacity and how much time the client wants to charge their battery pack. We are working very closely with all types of batteries, like NMC and LFP.
One of our clients, Log9 Materials, uses a very typical kind of battery capacity, which is LTO. The battery range is high with high reliability and durability.
But the communication becomes complex, wherein the battery takes low charging, then fast charging, and then slow charging again. Our product is 100% compliant as per the Log9 battery profile. Currently, we are supplying almost 200 to 300 EV chargers to them.
Do you have a manufacturing site in India?
At present, we are assembling the charger in CKD form. However, soon our mega factory will be launched in Chennai.
It will be operational from April onwards, and our products will be 100% localized in India.
Sustainability has become a key theme of every big tech company nowadays. Yes. Share your views on the same and mention how your company is contributing to this cause?
Sustainability can be defined in terms of product reliability and flexibility in customization. On the other hand, our product should support the ecosystem. As Soltera, we are promoting a unified approach. We are influencing governments and OEMs to adopt a common standard, as currently, there is no universal standard for two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Each manufacturer uses its own connectors, protocols, and software.
Being Soltera, we have formed the Bharat Charge Alliance (BCA), where we influence the standards defined by the government, specifically IS17017-2-6, which advocates for common connectors and communication protocols. This standardization would enable all two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and tractors to be charged at the same point, both at home and in public.
A good example of this is the Type-C charger, now available in mobiles, laptops, and cars, representing standardization in the mobile and electronic industries. This revolution in the mobile industry is something we are not just influencing but demanding for India.
Standardization in four-wheelers and electric buses is already in place, with every OEM following it. Now, it’s time for similar standardization in two-wheelers and three-wheelers, and we are working towards that goal.
Any expansion plans or upcoming projects or collaborations?
At present, 80–90% of marketing and sales are focused on the domestic market. We are also receiving inquiries from Africa market because now every country wants to enter the EV sector. They visit during exhibitions, and we have met with two-three companies from Africa as well as from Indonesia, and the Philippines, and we are working towards them.
And though, we are getting inquiries from global markets and Asian countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. But our first prime focus is to serve for Indian customers. So, first we will be focusing on establishing an Indian customer base and then we will plan our focus on the export market.