Omega Seiki Mobility has partnered with Valeo India for last-mile cargo solutions. Prateek Pardeshi looks at the scope of the partnership involving the Rage+ and Rage+ Frost three-wheeler, cargo range.

Small Commercial Vehicles (SCVs) are in vogue! Preferred for inclusion by fleet operators for last-mile delivery, they are also the flag-bearers of all-electric drives. Omega Seiki Mobility (OSM) has a strategy in place to exploit this trend to its advantage. For it to be successful, it has zeroed in on a technical partner in Valeo India (Valeo). The latter will collaborate to build a powertrain especially suited to the duty cycles of three-wheelers aimed at cargo transportation. OSM, part of the Anglian Omega Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Valeo to source the company’s electric powertrains for the ‘Rage+’ and ‘Rage+ Frost’ range. The two partners aim to deliver on the carbon emission reductions through the collaboration.

48V e-powertrainThe 48V electric powertrain system manufactured at Valeo’s Pune plant, is known to constitute a reducer, an integrated motor and an inverter to go along with the Powertrain Control Unit (PCU) for OSM’s cargo three-wheelers range comprising of ‘Rage+’ and ‘Rage+ Frost. The vehicles under the Rage+ brand, for instance, have already been deployed by several major ecommerce and logistics companies in India.
“We are thrilled to partner with Valeo. This association will allow us to address the core issue of reducing carbon load in the atmosphere, along with providing a sustainable solution for our product line-up,” stated Uday Narang, Chairman, Omega Seiki Mobility in the company release.

Rage+
Rage+ three-wheeler cargo vehicle with a Gross Vehicular Weight (GVW) of 0.96-tonne and an open carrier box offers a range of 70-80 kilometres on a single charge as per company claims. It translates to a running cost of 0.50 rupees per kilometre. Powered by an IP65 certified 7.5 kWh battery pack with a battery swap option, the vehicle is claimed to be charged in a period of three to four hours using a fast charger. Range+ customers can look forward to a battery life of 2,000 cycles coupled with a three-year or 80,000 km warranty. On the safety front, customers can look forward to inclusions like regenerative braking, roller-cage support structure keeping in mind driver safety, a superior strengthened chassis claimed to be suited to Indian road conditions, and hydraulic braking. Heavy-duty shock absorbers that include a damper plus helical support the front skeleton. The rear gets independent suspensions and dampers too. The company also offers a reefer variant christened ‘Rage+ Frost’ unveiled earlier this year and aimed at pharmaceuticals and food delivery aggregators.

Go-to-market strategy
The go-to-market strategy of this collaboration entails Valeo offering quick charging and an efficient range. It also entails keeping the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) low to maximise operator Return on Investment (RoI). To deliver on its promise, Valeo will fall back on its globally tested 48V affordable systems, known to have been launched in 2020. It expects the fully integrated compact 48V electric powertrain system to aid in OSM’s requirement of building affordable small electric commercial vehicles. Besides three-wheelers, the scope of the MoU extends to two-wheelers aimed at both the first and last-mile connectivity requirements pan India. Going beyond the current scope, Valeo and OSM will further collaborate for the latter’s upcoming vehicle models to be manufactured in India. “OSM is taking a holistic approach to not only provide innovative technology in the vehicles but also deliver high-performance vehicles at reasonable running cost through the claimed, state-of-the-art internal research and development and alliances put in place,” opined Narang.
OSM is looking to leverage its partner Valeo’s expertise deemed suited to the target segment of small commercial vehicles. Averred Jayakumar G, Group President, Valeo India, “Omega Seiki will benefit from our deep understanding of not only the electrification technologies but also the unique needs of integrating electric powertrain in the small mobility format of vehicles.” “I am positive that Valeo’s advanced technologies, our strong engineering combined with manufacturing expertise in India will help us to strengthen our partnership and succeed together in this rapidly growing segment,’ he stated.
While Valeo’s engineers look to provide the technology integration support aimed at helping OSM accelerate the execution of its go-to-market strategy it is expected to lead to faster commercialisation of the product offering. About the technology used by OSM for their vehicles to be coupled with the Valeo e-powertrain, added Dr Deb Mukherji, Managing Director at Omega Seiki Mobility, “With a global technology leader like Valeo on board, we would be providing our customers with new generation powertrains which are efficient, use latest technologies in motors, electronics and IoT, and at the same time are cost-effective too.” “That is the essence of any disruptive technology. We are very excited to be working with Valeo to introduce a new range of powertrains in the Indian market,” he concluded.

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