Inspired Karters Electric recently won the prestigious Formula Student Electric Vehicle (FSEV) Concept Challenge. Furthermore, they ranked 1st in the Procurement Report and Team Management Strategy categories. FSEV Concept Challenge is a sub-event of Formula Bharat—an intercollegiate vehicle design and project management competition. The competition involves the design of an electrical package for the vehicle in addition to devising a strategy for the cheap and timely procurement of components. The first edition of the competition took place in 2017 with the Government of India declaring its plans to make a major shift to electric vehicles by 2030 in line with the Paris Agreement. The English Press Club interviewed Shikhar Vohra, the Team Captain and Hari Raghavendran, the Team Manager regarding their recent success.
Though the team works on vehicle design and procurement throughout the year, work on the electrical package design for FSEV started in April. The lockdown brought with it a new set of challenges, but the team quickly adapted to them. The considerable effort put into team bonding, coupled with flexible work hours, helped them brainstorm and execute decisions easily, improving their productivity.
Having missed the first place by a small margin in the previous edition, the team actively looked for ways to improve their performance. They took note of the mistakes that they had made and incorporated a Management subsystem. This move helped them streamline their operations and gave them a strategic edge while formulating their Team Management and Procurement Strategy Reports—‘the judges deemed it to be the best they had ever seen.’ The team believes that ‘management is not a one-step process. It is focused on improving the quality, efficiency, and efficacy of all operations. Therefore, it does not have an end goal, only continuous performance enhancement. A shift in team mentality and culture towards improving the process rather than the final car is key to sustaining a winning trend in management’.
Their car, which is fully electrically powered, is the first of its kind in BITS Pilani. It is powered by ninety 64.8 Wh Li-ion pouch cells which, according to Shikhar, have the capability to power a hostel for approximately a minute. The large battery capacity was decided with the Endurance Run category in mind. The car has a 73.5 kW motor and a battery pack voltage of 328 V ‘that is at least seven times that of any Indian electric hatchback,’ Shikhar stated. With these specifications, the car would be capable of a straight-line speed of 95 km/h.
Had the pandemic not forced the team members to return home, the car would have been ready by the end of April. With the upcoming semester being conducted online, there is uncertainty about the team’s participation in Formula Bharat 2021, which is to be held in January. They are currently training their junior batch for the next edition of the Concept Challenge. The team plans to build on its success and compete in European Formula Student events, where the standard of vehicles is much higher than it is in India.