PIB TrackerIndigenous 30 kW EV drive system launched
A locally developed integrated motor-inverter unit targets the import-heavy heart of India's electric-vehicle supply chain.
What happened
- On 2 March 2026, an indigenously developed 30 kW Wide Band Gap (WBG)-based Integrated Drive System (IDS) for electric-vehicle applications was launched in Chennai.
- The system was developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Thiruvananthapuram, in collaboration with IIT Madras and the auto-component maker Lucas TVS.
- The work was carried out under the National Mission on Power Electronics Technology (NaMPET), a programme of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
- It was launched at IIT Madras by Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY.
- The unit fuses the electric motor and the inverter into a single compact, high power-density package, replacing the conventional design in which the two sit as separate boxes.
- The technology has been designed, fabricated and validated, and is described as ready for commercialization and large-scale deployment.
Background & context
To read this release correctly, three layers have to be unpacked: the device (the integrated drive system), the materials class it is built from (wide band gap semiconductors), and the programme that funded it (NaMPET under MeitY). Each is examinable in its own right.
A modern electric vehicle does not run directly off its battery. The battery delivers direct current (DC), while the traction motor that turns the wheels typically needs alternating current (AC) at a precisely controlled frequency. The component that performs this conversion and meters out power is the inverter, often called the traction inverter or motor drive. Together the motor and its inverter form the EV powertrain — the functional equivalent of the engine-and-gearbox in a petrol car. In most existing designs the motor and the inverter are manufactured and packaged separately and then wired together. The launched product instead integrates the two into one unit, which shortens the high-current connections, reduces weight and volume, improves what engineers call power density (power delivered per unit of size or mass), and simplifies the cooling system. This is why it is called an Integrated Drive System rather than a stand-alone motor or a stand-alone inverter.
The phrase Wide Band Gap refers to the family of semiconductor materials used to build the switching devices inside the inverter. Conventional power electronics use silicon (Si). Wide band gap semiconductors — chiefly silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) — have a larger electronic band gap than silicon, which lets them operate at higher voltages, higher temperatures and much higher switching frequencies with lower energy losses. In an EV, this translates into a more efficient, smaller and lighter drive that wastes less of the battery's charge as heat, directly improving range. The choice of WBG devices is therefore not incidental branding; it is the technical reason the unit can hit a high power density in the 30 kW class.
The 30 kW power class is deliberately chosen. It is the band that suits India's fast-growing electric passenger-vehicle segment — compact cars and shared fleet-mobility platforms — rather than two-wheelers (which need far less) or heavy buses and trucks (which need much more). By targeting this class, the programme aims squarely at the volume part of India's emerging EV market.
The funding and institutional home is NaMPET — the National Mission on Power Electronics Technology — a MeitY initiative implemented through C-DAC to build indigenous capability in power electronics, the engineering discipline that controls and converts electrical power. NaMPET has run in successive phases over the past two decades, supporting the development of converters, drives, controllers and power-electronic building blocks, and seeding an ecosystem of Indian R&D groups, academic partners and industry. The 30 kW integrated drive is presented as one of its applied outcomes: a mission-funded laboratory technology matured to the point of factory readiness with an industry partner. The implementing agency here, C-DAC, is the same autonomous R&D organisation under MeitY best known for India's supercomputing (PARAM) and language-computing work; its Thiruvananthapuram centre carries the power-electronics charter.
The wider policy backdrop named in the release is self-reliance in strategic and high-value electronics. At present a substantial share of high-performance EV powertrain systems and the critical semiconductor-based drive components inside them are imported. Localising the integrated drive is meant to cut that import dependence, lower system cost through domestic manufacturing, and feed into national programmes such as the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for electronics and auto components. The launch was explicitly framed against the "Make in India, Make for the World" and Aatmanirbhar Bharat goals — the stated ambition being India's shift from a technology-importing nation to a technology-developing and exporting one.
For Prelims
- What it is: a 30 kW Wide Band Gap-based Integrated Drive System (IDS) for EVs — motor and inverter combined in one compact, high power-density unit. (source-anchored)
- Who built it: C-DAC, Thiruvananthapuram with IIT Madras and Lucas TVS. (source-anchored)
- Under which programme: the National Mission on Power Electronics Technology (NaMPET). (source-anchored)
- Nodal ministry: Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY); implementing agency C-DAC (an autonomous R&D body under MeitY). (source-anchored / curator-added context)
- Where & when: launched at IIT Madras, Chennai on 2 March 2026 by MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan. (source-anchored)
- WBG materials: wide band gap semiconductors are chiefly silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) — they switch faster, run hotter and lose less energy than conventional silicon. (curator-added, well-established)
- Target segment: the 30 kW class fits electric passenger vehicles — compact cars and fleet mobility — not two-wheelers or heavy trucks. (source-anchored)
- Linked policy: tied to PLI schemes, Make in India, and Aatmanirbhar Bharat in electric mobility. (source-anchored)
What it is NOT: it is not a battery, a battery-management system or a charger — it is the traction drive (motor + inverter) that converts stored DC into controlled power for the wheels. It is not a fully separate motor and a separate inverter; the whole point is that the two are integrated. NaMPET is a power-electronics mission under MeitY, distinct from the FAME / EMPS demand-subsidy schemes (Ministry of Heavy Industries) and from the National Mission on Transformative Mobility — do not confuse the technology mission with the purchase-incentive schemes. C-DAC here is acting as a power-electronics R&D body, not in its more familiar supercomputing role.
The set it belongs to — Indian indigenous EV / power-electronics building blocks (for "how many of these" questions): the 30 kW WBG Integrated Drive System sits alongside other MeitY/C-DAC and national efforts in the EV and semiconductor stack — indigenous traction motors and controllers, the broader Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and chip-fab incentives, the PLI for advanced chemistry cell (ACC) batteries, and demand-side schemes like FAME-II / PM E-DRIVE. Of these, only the IDS is the motor-plus-inverter drive itself; the others address chips, cells or purchase subsidies.
Why it matters
The problem this addresses is a concrete dependency. The motor drive is one of the most value-dense and technology-intensive parts of an EV, and India currently imports a large share of high-performance drives and the WBG semiconductor devices inside them. That import reliance raises vehicle cost, exposes manufacturers to supply-chain shocks, and keeps the highest-margin engineering offshore. An indigenous, factory-ready integrated drive attacks all three at once: it localises a critical component, lowers system cost through domestic production, and — because it is design-led — creates domestic intellectual property rather than merely assembling imported designs.
The second-order effects named in the release are about ecosystem depth. A homegrown integrated drive opens work for MSMEs in power-electronics manufacturing, thermal-management systems and control hardware; it strengthens the EV supply chain; and it can improve India's standing in semiconductor-based mobility. It also dovetails with the manufacturing-incentive architecture (PLI) so that a proven design has a domestic production pathway rather than dying as a lab demonstrator. In policy terms it is a small but pointed example of the intended move up the value chain — from importing finished powertrains to developing, and eventually exporting, the underlying technology.