New Delhi: Technology and collaboration are the name of the game. With the changing dynamics of the automotive space, OEMs are buying and acquiring new technologies, but what remains is the culture of the organization that takes it far in the long run, as per the industry executives at commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland.
According to the company’s newly appointed Managing Director and CEO, Shenu Agarwal, “Being invested in homegrown technologies is coming in very handy while we are transitioning towards the future. In hindsight, I can say that those were good strategic decisions made by the company.”
Agarwal stressed on the need for collaboration, saying that “when it comes to working with partners, the company is open to collaborating not just internally but also externally.”
“However, my personal belief is that there is nothing better than creating your own stuff. This gives more flexibility, and since the world is changing at a faster pace, there is a need to experiment with pretty much everything. So if you are doing everything on our own from the scratch, it gives you an insight and knowledge,” he added.
Technology and culture work hand-in-hand with each other. It is one thing to just evolve new technologies, but it is also important to evolve the culture. “I am not undermining the efforts of our R&D team, but sooner or later, everyone will eventually catch up on technology. Ultimately what will differentiate companies would be the cultural aspect- being more agile and flexible, having more capacity and knowledge,” Aggarwal said.
Talking on similar lines, Dr. N. Saravanan, President and Chief Technology Officer, Ashok Leyland said, “The culture of an organization helps as the skills can encourage innovation, a local way of thinking, and collaboration.”
The commercial vehicle major also stressed on the role of Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H2-ICE) technology as the bridge to move from ICE vehicles to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
“From a technology perspective, we have both hydrogen and fuel cell technology. But compared to fuel cells, Hydrogen ICE is a lower hanging fruit,” said Dr Saravanan, while adding that given the company’s strengths in ICE, it makes a lot of sense to get hydrogen ICE in the ecosystem.
“The investments in these areas are for a long period of time, so we have about 2-10 years to invest in these technologies, which is going to be a continuous process. Although the market for diesel is not going to come down drastically, but investments in this area will slowly go down. The good part is that the market is expected to respond positively for the next 2-3 years. So if it is going to generate appropriate cash, then we can invest a part of that in these technologies.,” he said.
Early February, Ashok Leyland along with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) unveiled a H2-ICE powered heavy duty truck. The companies said they had been developing this technology over the past year and it had been under test since August 2022. The new range (19-35 tonne) comes powered by Hydrogen, maintaining overall architecture similar to a conventional diesel-based combustion engine.
At the recently concluded Auto Expo 2023, Ashok Leyland showcased a range of vehicle technologies including BEV, fuel cell EV, hydrogen ICE, LNG vehicle, intercity CNG bus and a mini passenger bus.
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Auto major Tata Motors has recently announced that it aims to achieve carbon neutrality for the commercial vehicle (CV) segment by 2045 and its goal for passenger vehicles (PVs) remains 2040. The company is working on a twin strategy: diverse technology-mix in its product portfolio, and focus on renewable energy for its supply chain operations. It has also created a collaborative platform called ‘Aikyam’ with all its vendors.
