If you are following the news daily, you might have already known that the future belongs to EVs. Particularly, the EV industry of India is booming like never before, with a lot of advancements in batteries, motors and also supporting government schemes. A huge number of start-ups have been coming into existence with an innovative techno-commercial placing of their vehicles.
Everyone in this industry is aiming for the big picture of reducing carbon emissions by leaving out the IC engine but what they are lacking is focus on small things.
Small, in the sense, the components that make up the motor, battery and motor controller, etc. Majorly the powertrain of EV, makes it stand apart from conventional ICE vehicles.
for example, the bearing assembly of a mid-drive motor involves the process of press-fitting. Press fitting process includes heating the stator and pressing the bearing fitted shaft into it, later obviously the assembly will be cooled down to normal temperature.
So, this process includes heating and cooling cycles. Sounds like a chapter from Thermodynamics right, well you are not completely wrong. It requires a lengthy assembly line for this process, with this comes to a lot of energy consumption.
As a solution for this, a component called a Tolerance ring is introduced.
A tolerance ring is a cylindrical component having waves or features, which act as springs and help in holding other components in a multi-component assembly.
With the help of tolerance rings, it takes not more than 10 seconds to assemble the component. And the best part is it does not require an assembly line, which cuts down the carbon footprint of a company on a large scale.
This component paves more ways for the local production of motors, as many EV start-ups are outsourcing most of the motors not just because of the financial benefits but also due to the respective company’s inability to set up a plant for the big assembly line process required for press-fitting.
Hang in there, the additional benefits of tolerance include vibration prevention, tolerance, and concentricity compensation.
Better our EV manufacturers look into components like these before it is too late.
The EV industry in India is still in its initial stages, it is the time to act to search not only for the right products but also for the components which can go into these products to ease up the manufacturing & maintenance and increase the performance & efficiency.
The components which come under the same basket include PTFE-based rotary shaft seals, which are made specifically to sustain the high friction, high temperature, lubrication less, and high RPM harsh environment of an EV drivetrain.
Not to forget the heart of an EV, the battery. India is still in the search of ways to the localization of complete battery manufacturing. As of now, the closest we can come to is assembling the battery packs in-house.
With the rise in battery technology and complexity, safety has become a major issue under consideration. The local availability of durable silicone-based sealing gaskets, electrically insulating and thermally conducting thermal interface materials, fire blocking polyurethane foam fs1000 for thermal runaway barriers, and compression pads that can accommodate expansion/contraction of cells and tolerance stack, will be a great help for the much safer and efficient battery packing.
So, if the EV manufacturers look into components like these, which can improve their performance simultaneously easing the manufacturing and maintenance processes. That might translate into good demand for components,
which makes manufacturing of these components in India safer and more feasible. Another feather in the crown of EV sector revenue generation in India.
