India Launches Its 1st Indigenous e-Tractor Developed By the CMERI

On Monday, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh, had launched the CSIR Prima ET11, the first indigenous e-Tractor developed by the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur, a public engineering R&D institution in Durgapur, West Bengal, and a constituent laboratory of the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Underlining the role of Agri StartUps in India’s economy and called for the adoption of new and AI driven technologies in Agriculture, Dr Singh said, "an increasing number of new Startups are venturing into the Agriculture sector, focussing on niche technologies including e-Tractor, recycling garbage, drip irrigation, Genome sequenced farming such as Mango and Lotus."

CSIR Prima ET11

“This is one sector in which India has rather not taken up the pace that was required,” said Dr Jitendra Singh, adding, “This is a huge unexplored resource, which is only exclusive to India. Those countries which had been promoting IT, have been promoting from their point of view because they have their assets; they don’t have the agri asset that we have. So we don’t have to ape them. If I have plenty of agriculture resource, why not I make use of it… Therefore, this route would be a very important component in India’s future economy in the next 25 years.”

To recall, Indianweb2 recently reported that TI Clean Mobility (TICMPL), the electric vehicle arm of Murugappa Group’s engineering company Tube Investments of India (TII), is launching at least three electric tractors during this fiscal.

Further, Dr Jitendra Singh said, “We have a very enabling atmosphere and an enabling leadership, which is quite patronising,” he said, adding, “PM Modi has not only given us the freedom to perform to our full potential and aptitude, but he has also raised the esteem of science and the scientists.”

The CSIR-CMERI will be celebrating the theme-based campaign “One Week One Lab” from 11-15 September 2023, showcasing the laboratory's cutting-edge research, products and technologies, expertise and facilities to various stakeholders.

Murugappa Group Launching 3 Electric Tractors this Fiscal Year

Representative

TI Clean Mobility (TICMPL), the electric vehicle arm of Murugappa Group’s engineering company Tube Investments of India (TII), is set to launch at least three electric tractors during this fiscal, reported The Business Line.

Notably, in January 2022, TII acquired a 70% stake in Cellestial in a mix of primary and secondary purchases of shares. Later this year in January, TII acquired the remaining 30% stake held by founders of electric tractor manufacturer Cellestial E-Mobility.

The acquisition of Cellestial E-Mobility has enabled TII to design and build e-tractors from a ground-up architecture. Hyderabad based Cellestial E-mobility, the maker of the first electric tractor in India, had unveiled its first E-Tractor in March 2020, with performance metrics that match 4X of the equivalent Diesel-Powered tractor.

TII, which has already launched an electric passenger autorickshaw ‘Montra’ across the south of India, is now betting big on e-tractors citing the cost economics which is the same for both electric three-wheelers and electric tractors.

With over 27 tractor brands, India is the world's largest producer and market for tractors, with 16 domestic and 4 multinational corporations manufacturing tractors.

Tractors in India are majorly powered by diesel engines which are an increasing source of carbon emissions and criteria pollutants.

Electric tractors can play an essential role towards green farming, benefitting both the farmer and the environment.

To recall, in November last year, TII also acquired a 50% stake in X2Fuels & Energy, a startup company engaged in developing processes to convert waste into fuels, for 61.5 million Indian rupees ($752,815). 

Electric Tractor Start-Up 'Cellestial' Completes Pre-Series A Funding at Significant $35Mn Valuation

Hyderabad based Startup Cellestial E-mobility, the maker of the first electric tractor in India has grabbed 35 Million Dollars valuation in its Pre-Series A fundraise. Buoyed by its sustainable, robust business model, growing user response coupled with a consistent revenue generation Cellestial successfully closed its initial raise of Half a million USD.

This round of strategic financing included the Co-founder of Electric Motor Company, Ashik Karim, Founder of UpCapital Investments, Canada's leading EV financial advisory group who have not just invested but expressed a deeper interest in supporting the Company’s growth in branding & stewardship.

Gurj Aujla and other High-Net-Worth Individuals from Canada with links to agriculture, commercial banking and wealth management have also participated in this round.

Siddhartha Durairajan, Founder and CEO, Cellestial, stated 

The USP of our Electric tractor is that it is the first in its class with affordable pricing, path-breaking battery technology and torque that is primed to take on the tractor markets, with expansive sales and service dealer network.

The uniqueness of our affordable green EV Tractor targeted to Indian farmers is that it has a very low operating cost. We plan to introduce our affordable tractors in the global market next year. Starting this year, Cellestial will start shipping units to early buyers, dealers in India followed by Canadian and Mexican pilot markets. The order book is around 1700 tractors, and shipments to consumers and 5 distributors across the country will commence soon

“Today’s farming tractors do not address the unmet needs for the agriculture sector which is not only looking for affordability but also has high-performance efficiency. With our tractor, we have solved this need with a market-ready solution, backed by our technological expertise and deep domain knowledge. ” Siddhartha added.

“Our proprietary battery technology and deep understanding of optimising the performance in the e-propulsion makes the difference in our Electric Tractor,” said Syed Mubasheer, Co-founder and CTO, Cellestial E-Mobility.

Cellestial unveiled its first Electric Tractor prototype in March 2020 with avant-garde features like battery swap, regenerative braking, power inversion, residential AC power charging, and superfast charging. Integrating smart Li-ion battery technology with robust build, product aesthetics, and intelligent features, the Electric Tractor is built to run for longer periods with a full load, zero-emission, and stress-free operation.

Cellestial Green Tractors has undergone 1000s of hours of rigorous field tests including vibration testing to confirm market readiness.