With the buzz of promoting Electric vehicles all around, many students especially from the engineering colleges are keen followers of the development. To help understand more on the process of EV conversion, retrofitting, components, and more, Mr. Shrikant Shinde Founder and Managing Director GoGoA1 addressed the eager engineering students from Bharti Vidyapeeth Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai to help them grasp the finer points of the future of the EV in India. He addressed the Diploma and Degree students who are keen to pursue a future in the EV industry or who want to be entrepreneurs and create more job opportunities in the field. The informal session was attended by Prof P.N Tandon – Principal Bharti Vidyapeeth Institute of Technology, Prof J.K Patil, HOD Mechanical Engineering (BVIT), and Prof S.W Sawant Ex-HOD Electronics & Telecommunications (BVIT).
Shri Shrikant Shinde Founder and MD GoGoA1 addressing the faculty and Engineering students of Bharti Vidyapeeth in Belapur
The inspiring session was an attempt to fill the gap between academics and the EV industry and create awareness about the numerous opportunities arising in the industry for the new batch of students. Right now, governments are promoting the EV industry and we are on the cusp of generating a properly trained and knowledgeable support system that can implement futurist ideas and concepts beneficial for the environment and the industry. Together with Bharti Vidyapeeth, GoGoA1 plans to start an EV club that will aid in aligning the career of engineering students for the EV industry and produce young entrepreneurs and a ready talent pool for the EV industry.
GoGoA1 e-bike
While interacting with the students, Mr. Shrikant Shinde shared, “Engineers are the base of any development in the world. The electric vehicle industry is at a nascent stage and this is the right time for engineering students to be a part of this developing segment. Taking this new generation of entrepreneurs or industry specialists, GoGoA1 can create a conducive atmosphere to create job-ready specialists and entrepreneurs with their own EV start-up before they graduate college. Collaborating with an illustrious institute like Bharti Vidyapeeth, especially for their emerging trends syllabus shows the preparedness of the institute for a positive change to help the overall industry.”
Principal of Bharti Vidyapeeth Institute of Technology Prof. P N Tandon added, “Working partnership with the industry is key to understanding the needs, so we can train our students to address the requirements of any particular segment, be it mechanical, electrical, civil, etc. As you are well aware, the step taken by the government for promoting the EV ecosystem, and we hope that with an MOU with GoGoA1 in near future, we can create an EV ready workforce with skills developed and enhanced to tackle any problem which may arise in the EV sector.”
Besides training budding entrepreneurs at their state-of-the-art training center in Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), GoGoA1 has already implemented EV training curriculum in prominent educational institutes like G H Raisoni College of Engineering, JSPM (Pune), Kohinoor Technical, A P Shah College (Thane), and Vishwaniketan. Over the decade, GoGoA1 has trained thousands of budding entrepreneurs and EV professionals from across the country.
Talking about the State government EV policies Mr. Shrikant Shinde further opined “Retrofitting existing vehicles with EV conversion Kit is a smarter move in today’s scenario and it should be part of the government’s EV policies for a faster EV Adoption. New EV vehicles are getting subsidies, despite the fact that they are being sold at higher rates. But on the other side, high GST and Taxes on retrofit kit and component manufacturing are pushing the demand down. with the necessary amendments to the EV policies, the prices of the kits will come down and will be in easy grasp of the common man. As the country is moving towards complete EV adoption by 2030, this module will work in favour of State Transport, Local Transport, fleet owners, delivery personnel, logistics, and more to adopt a green policy in near future.”
GoGoA1 has been working diligently to endorse retrofitting of existing ICE vehicles into Electric Vehicles. They have been recently empanelled by the Delhi government to retrofit Hero Splendor bikes and convert them into electric bikes. The company plans to launch conversion kits for more 2 & 3 wheelers models along with an indigenously built swappable battery system which will greatly reduce the cost of the EV conversion kit by March 2022, followed by 4 wheelers and commercial vehicles in the next financial year.
Started in 2011, Mumbai based GoGoA1 catered to supplying EV components to students of IITs and other engineering colleges. In 2019, pooling all the experience thus gained in the industry, the bootstrapped start-up launched the first of its product – a retrofit conversion kit that could transform a fuel-run motorcycle into an electric one. The conversion kits are approved by ARAI and authorized by the RTO.
For more information, please visit www.gogoa1.com