Even as electric mobility is gaining currency in the Indian context, the one question everyone is asking is where is the charging infrastructure? As if to answer this question, a Japanese company TechnoPro is launching its operations in India with the opening of its Global Delivery Centre in Bengaluru.
The company has the capabilities to offer battery management systems and solutions to fast-charging stations. There is no denying that the charging stations need to come up on our highways and cities if the objective of switching to electric vehicles has to be achieved. Hopefully, TechnoPro and other companies with similar capabilities can help in this direction. To put this in perspective, the country has hardly 650 charging stations against as many as over 650,000 in China. Only if more charging stations come up, will the customers invest in electric vehicles, whether 2-wheelers or cars. No wonder, hardly 8,000 vehicles running on batteries have been in India over a six-year period.
TechnoPro is more of a technology company with research and consultancy in the field as its strengths. The company has a couple of centres in Pune and Hyderabad, but the new facility in Bengaluru may be large with the company claiming they intend recruiting 10,000 engineers and other technical hands. This number may double by 2023-end, TechnoPro has said.
In its almost two years of activities in India, the company has been able to train a number of engineers and have them placed in many of their client companies worldwide. TechnoPro now wants to deploy the available local talent in developing the electric vehicle charging stations within the country. They have chosen an Indian who has had 20 years’ work experience in Japan as its CEO for the Indian operations.
TechnoPro is looking at a Golden Triangle Strategy that includes India, Israel, Japan (IIJ). The company specialises in design and R&D, with a global strength of 20,000 engineers and researchers, having expertise in the fields of machinery, electronics, information systems, software, chemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, architecture, construction and energy.