VaakuLab - An Indian startup revolution to develop indigenous BMS.

 

BY    AFZAL YOUSAF

Electric motoring revolution is about to begin in India in near future. Govt. is also introducing many policies to adopt electric vehicles and encourage companies producing EV Components. Indigenous development of EV components is necessary for a sustainable and reliable growth of EV industry in India. Also reduces the overall cost of EVs.

In this article you can read about VaakuLab, an Indian startup developing Indigenous Battery Management Systems. 

Battery Management System (BMS)  is an important part of EVs that monitors the working and health of the battery. It is considered as the heart of the battery pack that protects the battery and regulates its performance for proper power delivery and performance of the vehicle. Currently Indian EV companies are mainly depending on imported BMS especially from china. Within few years Indian companies will manufacture Li ion cells indigenously and they have to depend on imported BMS if it doesn't produced in India. Some Indian startups have been already working to develop Indigenous BMS.

VaakuLab is an Indian Startup based on Bangalore which design and develop power electronics products and solutions focussing on BMS for Li ion batteries. Their product range includes BMS from 12 V to 72 V ,continues charging/discharging current rating from 5 to 70 Amps and overcurrent protection up to 210 A with centralized design including all safety and advanced features with ultra low power consumption.

Products

• 12V (3S-4S) HW BMS
• 24V (6S-8S) HW BMS
• 36V (10S-12S) HW BMS
• 48V (13S-16S) HW BMS
• 60V (16S-19S) HW BMS
• 72V (20S-24S) HW BMS

View detailed product specifications here.

VaakuLab was founded by Mr Ramkumar iikshvaaku who is a serial entrepreneur with vast experience. They have a technically sound team performed R&D for two years and finally launched first product on feb 2020. In his conversation with wheelsatev.com, Ramkumar iikshvaaku opened his mind on Vaakulab future plans, current Indian EV scenario and Covid 19 impact on start ups.

"EVs are not built  from air, We need strong supply chain presence and should aspire to design and develop every component from scratch, for that Govt. should encourage more start ups and SMEs to enter into varied component R&D and manufacturing" Ramkumar said.

He said VaakuLab will play a vital role in BMS development in India and they are targeting mass market which is at the bottom of customer pyramid. Also targeting to onboard 5 tier 1 and 50 tier 2 customers and clocking a sale of at least 1 million boards of all variants in next 5 years. Ramkumar iikshvaaku also added their team is working on a cost effective smart BMS, superior to hardware BMS, which helps entry level EV adopters in Two and Three wheelers without pinching their pocket.

"Smart BMS have necessary intelligence to bring down the failure rate of batteries on the field and option of choosing a communication protocol like CAN BUS, UART and RS485" he said.

Production lot at VaakuLab

Atmanirbhar Bharat is the vision of Indian govt. to make India self-reliable and Ramkumar iikshvaaku said this is a huge step forward but it shouldn't be a mere slogan due to current political condition. This should be an ongoing process which inculcate and encourage R&D in every sector to become self-reliant. Its doesn't mean we should stop importing  as it is impossible in today's world trade condition but should encourage private companies to invest in R&D to develop products and solutions for self sustainability and also for export market, he added.

Current pandemic situation has affected everyone deeply especially startups. Ramkumar iikshvaaku said " Startups need to reduce the cash burn and look at generating profit. Also should maintain a cash reserve for a period of 3 to 6 months to sustain the situation like covid19 arising.

VaakuLab is a startup with great vision and good team. Wheelsatev.com is looking forward to their success journey.

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