India’s mobility sector to be supercharged by IoT in 2023

Over the past couple of years, the world has seen fluctuations in carbon emissions. The pandemic-induced lockdowns in 2020 directly affected emissions, reducing them significantly. However, they began rebounding in 2021 and were even higher by 2022.

Therefore, in recent years, a lot of money has been invested in clean energy sources, resulting in a marked increase in their usage. According to the International Energy Agency, spending on energy-related projects has increased at a rate of 12% per annum since 2020, which is a noticeable increase from the average 2% yearly growth seen in the five years prior.

Many industries including the mobility industry are turning to IoT devices and applications to decrease their carbon footprint and create a significant environmental impact. The combination of improved connections and the latest breakthroughs, such as 5G, has resulted in the IoT experiencing rapid growth, specifically in the mobility sector, like never before.

Five IoT Trends That Will Supercharge India’s Mobility Sector In 2023

1. Smart Driving To Maximising Safety: IoT enables real-time monitoring of vehicles and their critical components as it provides preventive maintenance, making the technology more reliable for users. The device can measure both the absolute and relative parameters of the driver, such as speed and acceleration, to provide real-time tips for greater performance.

2. Driver Monitoring System: Telematics for electric vehicles not only tracks and analyzes a car's performance but also monitors the driver's behavior to create a safer and more efficient journey. This technology is increasingly being used in fleet management, where IoT phone apps provide instant feedback to managers on driver behavior, allowing them to make changes for improved vehicle safety.

3. Battery Management System: The Battery Management System (BMS) is used to regulate battery operations, including charging and discharging, to guarantee the well-being of the battery and provide optimal energy for the vehicle. BMS circuit tracking monitors key metrics, such as voltage, current, and temperature levels, to assess the battery's health. With IoT, data can be logged remotely, making battery monitoring control easier.

4. Telematics Data: The BMS monitors and regulates battery operations, including charging and discharging, to ensure the well-being of the battery and optimal energy for the vehicle. BMS circuit tracking checks key metrics such as voltage, current, and temperature levels. IoT enables remote data logging for easy battery monitoring control and to assess the battery's health.

5. Indian Safety Norms: Electric vehicle manufacturers are required to comply with new battery safety standards. As part of the battery safety norms, the Road & Transport Ministry has introduced additional safety provisions, that in many ways mandate the use of IoT in Electric Vehicles (EV).

The following three amendments to the AIS-156 have already been rolled out by the Government of India, with some other minor modifications

Water resistance is an important aspect of testing a fully charged battery. It has been mandated to ensure that water cannot enter the unit and that there is no fire or explosion during testing. Smart BMS is another necessary feature that must include a processing circuit as a first requirement. All EVs come with smart batteries, whether microprocessor or microcontroller based. In order to prevent overcharging of the REESS, the charger must have a charge voltage cut-off to ensure safety and prevent short-circuiting.

Conclusion

The Indian automotive market is slated to become the third largest by 2030. According to NITI Aayog, by 2030, they expect electric vehicles to cover 70% of commercial vehicles, 30% of personal usage automobiles, 40% of buses, and 80% of two and three-wheelers in the market. This can lead to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2070.

Moreover, the rising population and growing demand for automobiles in India have made it difficult to rely on traditional energy sources since the nation imports over 80% of its crude oil. Consequently, alternate solutions are needed to meet the ever-increasing needs.

The global embrace of clean energy and internet IoT has catalyzed this movement. Even customers are preferring EVs for their lower operating costs, ease of charging (with home charging stations and a slowly growing charging network), and attractive features and performance. As a result, Indians are adopting EVs as a revolution, and IoT playing an almost imperative role to supercharge its growth.

The article has been written by Achal Kothari, Co-founder & VP - Business, ByteBeam