The Indian automotive industry is expecting electric mobility to account for 30 percent of mobility solutions by 2030. That essentially means that the current EV skilling programmes need to be scaled up to address the growing demand.
According to most studies, over 95 percent of motor mechanics today are undertaking vehicle service and maintenance without the relevant EV training.
In an exclusive interaction with Express Mobility, Ashwini Tiwary, Co-Founder Autobot Academy highlighted the changing engineering landscape, “When we talk about the new age of mobility where electric vehicles is no more an alien thing but have all the more been attributed to the future of mobility, at this point in time, we have to be well literate with a lot of electronics and electrochemical know-how and then, of course, the mechanical aspect – all in all the need of the hour is a blend.”
Commenting on the industry-academia gap and recalling his years of observations where he travelled across the nation understanding the syllabi of various engineering colleges, Tiwary said, “There is a very vast gap, the moment these students get out of the college, the industry is absolutely somewhere else. So, these students have to unlearn a lot that they have been taught over the years.”
He added that “Industry today has adopted new technologies, it is a new era which has its own requirements and challenges. So, the need is to induce the education mindset to adopt multidisciplinary skill sets.”
“It cannot be an isolated department, which was happening earlier. The definition of education has definitely changed and it is going to create numerous opportunities because the EV is not one industry but an integration of six seven industries like the automotive itself is a part of it. Second, we have the chemical industry which is again the battery point of view then we have telematics, AI and ML, this is where the IT industry comes into the picture. Then we have the aviation sector, the lightweight materials which are being used in EVs as well,” he pointed out.
Indicating a pool of career scope, Tiwary elaborated that people have to see a broader landscape and immense opportunities that are no more limited to the automotive, but there are these integrated industries that are working parallel with EV technology.
While there’s a latent yet growing demand for EVs in the country, at the same it becomes very crucial that the pivotal aspect of EV-related skills and allied professionals.
The fact that the prospective and the exciting resource lack the niche skills for working in the EV industry, the EV manufacturers will continue to struggle with the recruitment criteria and are bound to compromise, given the country is able to overcome the skills shortfall storyline.
An industry daily quoted veteran Nikunj Sanghi, ASDC, “Given the skills shortage scenario, the demand-supply gap needs to be plugged by tackling the root cause – outdated course curriculums or those not wholly in sync with the EV industry requirements.”