chennai in the electric mobility space it is partnerships that are driving innovation startups and vehicle manufacturers are collaborating to tap into new technologies markets networks and ideasthe emobility ecosystem is quite tightknit theres a lot of giveandtake says amitabh saran of bengalurubased altigreen propulsion labs which makes power trains to convert diesel or petrol vehicles to hybrid ones while improving fuel efficiency and cutting emissionsthere is innovation in the business model technology platform and software startups as well as large automakers use our technology he says altigreen works with vehicle companies that make twowheelers threewheelers cars and tractors advt electric vehicle sales in india are expected to witness doubledigit growth till 2020 fuelled by government measures for the sector says a report by global advisory services firm ernst young currently the electric vehicle industry in india is at a nascent stage comprising less than 1 of total vehicle sales the government has set an ambitious target of 100 electric vehicles for public transport and 40 for personal mobility by 2030sun mobility helmed by chetan maini who made electric vehicles decades before anyone else in india is also the goto company for a number of startups and automakers looking for tech platforms and solutions maini is in discussions with half a dozen eplayersapart from a tieup with ashok leyland for an electric bus sun mobility works with half a dozen companies he says we are creating a building block that can be used by both large established automakers and startups says maini its an open architecture that can reduce their time to market i have mentored 10 to 15 startups in emobility and they all had challenges in battery management we are working with them so they can use our platform and focus on their technology competence he explainscoimbatorebased ampere which makes lowcost electric two and threewheelers has just launched its indigenouslymade lithium ion battery like others in the emobility ecosystem ampere is talking to both automakers and startups advt we have been approached by a batterymanufacturing company from china which is looking to set up a facility in india we are also talking to sun mobility as its swappable batteries will help us cater to b2b segments and can be great for smaller cities like coimbatore says ampere founderceo hemalatha annamalai the biggest challenge in the emobility space is battery technology and charging infrastructure some like ampere are trying to bring down the battery cost by manufacturing locally others like sun are offering an open architecture with swappable battery packs more platform players like us will come into the market says maini there could also be standardisation of power train platforms so that every vehicle maker wont have to invest in a power train which will make evehicles plugandplay devices like mobile phonesat the other end of the spectrum is electric vehicle cab service lithium urban technologies suns maini is on the board of this company as well lithium urban uses mahindra revas e2o and everito to provide