India’s EV industry is entering its engineering decade: Why we need new breed of engineer

This article is authored by Abhishek Padmanabhan, CoE Director - Energy Sciences, Atria University, Bengaluru.The early days of the electric vehicle (EV) boom in India can easily be likened to a gold rush period, whereby both startups and legacy auto manufacturers have been competing for pole position, policies have smoothed the path, and early adopters have readily embraced the idea.

The crossing of the mark of 2.45 million units sold in FY26 signifies that the "novelty" period is finally behind us.The era of gains from imported knock-down kits, conversions of ICE chassis into electric cars, and regarding EVs as nothing but mechanically engineered cars powered by electric motors is over; it is time for a shift wherein dominance will be determined through sheer engineering and manufacturing prowess.Due to the inherently multi-disciplinary nature of EV technology, the old-fashioned single discipline engineer is a thing of the past. Everything depends on the future growth of our multidisciplinary systems engineers.

The Reality of the Cross-Disciplinary Boundary

For almost a century, the world of automotive engineering stayed safely within its silos. Mechanical engineers would work on optimizing the pistons, cylinders, and chassis, while electrical engineers took care of the wiring harnesses, and software developers entered the scene only when it was time to work on the infotainment user interface.

To understand why the silo engineer cannot design an efficient EV, we have to examine the actual engineering problems that exist within the Indian context.Battery packs make up 30%-40% of an EV’s cost, essentially becoming the new “engine” which influences range, safety, and profitability. The creation of a battery pack for the Indian market entails designing it with the harsh realities of 45°C summers, monsoon rains and flooding, and severe stop-and-go traffic conditions.A mechanical engineer could create a tough, sealed, aluminium case to safeguard against any damage due to potholes. An electronics engineer can design the circuit board. The EV engineer would need to know how fast charging at high temperatures affects the degradation profile of electrochemical reactions and convert it into code in the Battery Management System (BMS) to prevent any thermal runaway situations. We need all of them, and the one who knows them all gets to lead this effort.Similarly, a contemporary electric vehicle (EV) can be considered as a software defined vehicle (SDV), and hence there are over 100 million lines of code. Thus, software becomes as important as hardware. For example, in a situation where regenerative braking occurs on a common Indian tarmac full of gravels and potholes, one should note this.In a situation where the software engineer writing regenerative braking code is unaware of the physical phenomenon of tire slip, a drastic software upgrade can cause the car to slide during braking.

The software engineer does not work in isolation, but should know the physics of the tarmac as well.

Rethinking How We Train Engineers

As the growth rate of the domestic EV market is expected to increase by 35% per year until 2030, the need for system thinkers will reach unprecedented heights very soon. However, the current engineering educational system is strongly resistant to any change in the structure of departmental boundaries. We need to move from siloed degrees (electrical / mechanical) to cross functional curricula, and from isolated lab experiments to designing integrated subsystems and project-driven learning.The mobility engineers of tomorrow have to be equally comfortable working with a line of code written in C++, interpreting the results of a thermal scan of a battery pack, and assessing the structural loads of the chassis floor. Just as much as the aerodynamic characteristics of a car, its connection to the electric grid should be clear to them.

India's Chance to Lead

India is now at a pivotal point in its EV journey. However, for that to happen, we will need more than the capabilities of the past. The true test of success in the EV race will not lie in the quantity of vehicles assembled but rather in the global IP generated by engineers in India who don’t mind stepping out of their lanes.Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the original author and do not represent any of The Times Group or its employees.