Saietta Group has developed an all-new Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) with HCLTech specifically for three- and four-wheeled lightweight electric vehicles (LEVs) in Asia.
The addition of the VCU to Saietta’s existing portfolio of motor, controller and transmission products enhances the company’s ability to provide OEMs with complete eDrive solutions that can be quickly and cost effectively tailored to specific applications.
The VCU will be manufactured in India by Saietta VNA, a joint venture between Saietta Group and Padmini VNA.
The first units will be delivered as part of complete eDrive solutions to one of the largest three- and four-wheel LEV manufacturers in India.
The eDrive supply arrangement, previously announced on December 6, 2022, will see a minimum of 80,000 complete systems delivered over the first five years of the agreement and deliveries are on track to commence in Q4 2023.
The partnership with HCLTech will enable the end-to-end development of a scalable, modular, safe and secure VCU architecture for LEVs, optimizing their operation and multiple other critical vehicle functions.
Tony Gott, Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Saietta Group plc, said: “As with all elements of our leading-edge eDrive solutions, the VCU is designed to be cost-effective for Asia and is highly modular. This allows our engineers to tailor the functionality precisely to a customer’s requirements and thereby deliver a competitive edge.
“Saietta seeks to work with the very best partners who have a proven track record of delivering insightful innovation at the required scale, on time, on cost and on quality and we view HCLTech clearly as such an industry leader. We are honoured to work alongside them and look forward to evolving this relationship and together helping clean up the air in mega-cities globally.”
Saietta believes that future legislation and customer demand for a more refined driving experience will mean that VCUs become the norm in LEVs across Asia.
The company therefore co-developed a highly modular VCU with HCLTech which can ultimately be set up to optimise the operation of a complete electric powertrain, managing the operation of the motor, controller, transmission, batteries, and the battery charging process as well as multiple other critical vehicle functions.
The collaboration with HCLTech further strengthens Saietta’s presence in India. In March of this year, the British eDrive developer announced a transmission supply contract with AVTEC, one of the largest independent manufacturers of powertrain and precision-engineered products in India.
The partnership brings together AVTEC’s expertise in the design and manufacture of transmissions with Saietta’s motor and inverter capability. The resulting eDrives have been designed for three- and four-wheel lightweight electric vehicles (EVs) for its first set of commercial agreements which have been secured with one of the largest OEMs in the Indian light-duty mobility market. Production is on track to commence in Q3 2023.
Saietta VNA will produce the electric motors and inverters in its Indian manufacturing plant and combine these with transmissions from AVTEC manufactured at its plant in India.
The resulting 48V-96V eDrive solutions are designed to be lightweight, compact and cost competitive for Indian LEVs.
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