Mechanical engineer Gopal Sriram found himself nudged towards entrepreneurship after a chance meeting with the IIT-Madras professor and innovator Ashok Jhunjhunwala in 2018. Sriram’s bootstrapped startup, Viridian Ingni Propulsion, makes motors that promise to cut dependence on Chinese raw material and are “at least 30 per cent cheaper than conventional motors”.
Prof Jhunjhunwala, who had set up the on-campus IIT Madras Research Park back in 2009, mentioned to Sriram that the imminent boom in electric vehicles would set off a huge demand for motors. The downside, however, was that existing motors need magnets made with rare earth materials such as neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium, which are imported from China.
Sriram, with his industrial experience from his work with companies like Hallite India and Atlas Copco, embarked on the task of developing motors that can work with India-made ferrite magnets.
His efforts proved fruitful. His six-month-old company recently unveiled its ‘permanent magnet-assisted synchronous reluctance motors’ at a startup financiers’ meeting organised at IIT Madras Research Park.
Combined power
A sort of ‘hybrid’ motor, it blends the strengths of a reluctance motor with the added power of permanent magnets. ‘Reluctance’ in a motor refers to the torque force that arises out of the rotor trying to align itself to make it easier for the magnetic field to flow through it. The combination of reluctance and permanent magnets makes the motor powerful, efficient, and reliable while keeping it simple and low-maintenance.
The ferrite magnets are supplied by the Mahindra group’s CIE Automotive.
The motor features rated power and torque of 1.2 kW and 4 Newton-metres; peak power and torque of 2 kW and 24 Nm; rated speed and peak speed of 2,865 rpm and 4,000 rpm, respectively; and efficiency of 92 per cent.
According to Sriram, Viridian’s motor scores over its competitors — CY Gold, Yufeng and Lucas TVS — on most performance parameters and costs much less. It’s cheaper because it uses ferrite magnets, which cost ₹350 a kg, instead of rare earth materials priced about ₹7,500 a kg.
The motor also scores well on greenhouse gas emissions. A scientific paper produced by Keisuke Isomura of Toyota Motor Corporation states that the manufacture of 1 kg of rare earth magnet releases 75.8 kg of carbon dioxide, as against 1.57 kg in the case of ferrite magnet.
Production stage
Sriram says the company is currently developing the controller for the motor and the testing will be completed by December. By June 2025, he expects to start production — initially 1,000 units, mainly for e-rickshaws. The other use cases for the motor include electric bikes and a range of appliances.
Viridian Ingni Propulsion received a ₹10-lakh grant from the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu and ₹5 lakh from the Central government’s Nidhi Prayas scheme for technology entrepreneurs. The production phase would require a funding of ₹10 crore initially and ₹50 crore at full capacity, Sriram says.