Saietta and HCLTech Co-develop Cost-Effective Vehicle Control Unit for Lightweight Electric Vehicles in Asia

Saietta Group plc, the British electric drivetrain (eDrive) specialist, has completed the development of an all-new Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) that has been co-developed with HCLTech specifically for three- and four-wheeled lightweight electric vehicles (LEVs) in Asia.

Adding the VCU to Saietta’s existing motor, controller and transmission portfolio enhances the company’s ability to provide OEMs with complete eDrive solutions that can be quickly and cost-effectively tailored to specific applications.

The VCU will be manufactured in India by Saietta VNA, a joint venture between Saietta Group and Padmini VNA. The first units will be delivered as part of complete eDrive solutions to one of India’s largest three- and four-wheel LEV manufacturers.

The eDrive supply arrangement, previously announced on 6^th December 2022, will see a minimum of 80,000 complete systems delivered over the first five years of the agreement. Delivering is on track to commence in Q4 2023.

The partnership with HCLTech will enable the end-to-end development of a scalable, modular, safe and secure VCU architecture for LEVs, optimising their operation and other critical vehicle functions.

Tony Gott, Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Saietta Group plc said: “As with all elements of our leading-edge eDrive solutions, the VCU is designed to be cost-effective for Asia and is highly modular. This allows our engineers to tailor the functionality precisely to a customer’s requirements, thereby delivering a competitive edge.

“Saietta seeks to work with the best partners with a proven track record of delivering insightful innovation at the required scale, on time, cost and quality. We view HCLTech clearly as an industry leader. We are honoured to work alongside them and look forward to evolving this relationship and together helping clean up the air in mega-cities globally.”

VCUs – the Brains of Next-generation LEVs in Asia

A VCU is the ‘brain’ of a vehicle, and they are standard components in cars to manage critical vehicle systems such as torque control, battery energy management and regenerative braking. The VCU ensures that these systems work in harmony most effectively and safely.

Lightweight vehicles in Asia, such as rickshaws powered by internal combustion engines, have a simplistic electrical architecture, negating the need for a VCU. However, while LEVs bring many advantages to Asia, their electrical architecture is more complex, controlling functions such as how electrical energy is fed into the traction motors, managing the health of onboard batteries and optimising the charging process.

Saietta believes that future legislation and customer demand for a more refined driving experience will mean VCUs become the norm in LEVs across Asia. The company, therefore, co-developed a highly modular VCU with HCLTech, which can ultimately be set up to optimise the operation of a completely electric powertrain, managing the operation of the motor, controller, transmission, batteries, and the battery charging process as well as multiple other critical vehicle functions.

Saietta’s Presence in India

The collaboration with HCLTech further strengthens Saietta’s presence in India. In March of this year, the British eDrive developer announced a transmission supply contract with AVTEC, one of India’s largest independent manufacturers of powertrain and precision-engineered products.

Saietta VNA will produce the electric motors and inverters in its Indian manufacturing plant and combine these with transmissions from AVTEC manufactured in India. The resulting 48V-96V eDrive solutions are designed to be lightweight, compact and cost-competitive for Indian LEVs.