As the EV market vrooms, this Bengaluru start-up tries to get its motor running

As the world slowly transitions from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles, one of the components that has been a key driver of this change is the motor. 

As the world slowly transitions from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles, one of the components that has been a key driver of this change is the motor. 

Most electric vehicles use permanent magnet motors which offer 90% efficiency and hence considered the best bet currently. 

However, permanent magnets are made of several alloys which also include rare earth minerals, and this pose a bunch of challenges. Bengaluru-based deep-tech start-up Chara Technologies is trying to devise a solution to this by developing motors that are free of rare earth minerals. 

“‘Chara’ means motion,” explains Mahalingam Koushik, co-founder and CTO of the start-up. 

“The world is transitioning from a fossil fuel-based energy economy to electron energy economy. The key driver in the new energy economy which converts electricity into mechanical energy will be a motor. This is the space we are trying to provide a solution in.” 

When Koushik and Bhaktha Keshavachar (CEO of Chara) came together to build a new venture, the idea was to develop something for the EV segment which has been growing and hence would need new technologies. They noticed that motors offered a possibility of innovation as most motors and controllers were being imported.

Ravi Prasad, Chief Motor Designer at Chara, soon joined the duo, and the company was registered in 2019.