Kamal Bali, President & MD, Volvo Group India

Fuel efficiency
Bali claims that the fuel efficiency of Volvo engines globally has improved by 40 percent over the last two decades and that the Group has a commitment to improve fuel efficiency by one percent each year in its trucks. "We already have around 5,000 Volvo hybrid, plug-in and electric buses sold around the globe commercially. Now, we will begin selling our electric trucks too. As for the future, we have already displayed our preparedness with driverless trucks in mining; platooning in highway trucks supporting the movement towards a more eco-efficient and safer mobility," he shares.
Volvo Group has a quantified commitment for the longer term as part of its WWF climate saver partnership program. "We are in the midst of targets set for 2015-2020. Here in production, we aim to improve energy efficiency in production, by executing energy saving activities, reaching a level of 150 GWH by 2020.  When it comes to products, we aim to reduce total lifetime CO2 emissions from products sold between 2015 and 2020, by a cumulative saving of at least 40M tons, compared to 2013 models. We have an additional area of transport logistics, where we aim to reduce CO2 emissions per produced unit from the Volvo Group freight transport by 20 percent by 2020," Bali says.

Specific to India
So, what are the steps being taken specifically in India in the area of sustainable transport? Bali is quick with the response: Volvo Buses in India actually set the public transport agenda in India - with the objective to motivate citizens to opt for public transport versus personal vehicles. Today, Volvo City Buses operate in 35 Indian cities."
Bali further says that Volvo Products - trucks, buses, construction equipment, engines - have all demonstrated the capability to ‘to do more with less' - lesser fuel per ton/km or passenger/km, lesser emissions, lesser space used, fewer vehicles used. "The above has been achieved in every segment we have established, namely Tipper trucks for mining, Over-dimensional Cargo trucks, High capacity construction equipment, our engines for marine and industrial applications."
Bali says that the Volvo Group has kept very high focus on the drivers and operators since the start of its business - and in India it has already crossed 100,000 drivers and operators being trained. Good drivers can have a major impact on safety, fuel economy and the overall maintenance of a vehicle. "When it comes to alternate fuels and electro mobility, we are in close engagement with authorities on the development taking place.  We also have a strong focus on making our production units use clean / renewable energy. Just recently all three factories [Volvo trucks, Volvo buses and Volvo CE] are now powered by renewable energy [solar] replacing 70-80 percent of the existing power supply," he states.

Partnerships
The Volvo Group has also built cooperation and research partnerships with academia and other stakeholders as well as skill development. As for India, it has an association with IISC with regard to research in the area of advanced automobile technology. "When it comes to suppliers, Volvo Group sets stringent requirements for its direct suppliers in terms of the environment, human rights and business ethics, and require our suppliers to pass these requirements onward in the supply chain. Moreover, it requires that these suppliers apply these requirements onward in the supplier chain in accordance with our Code of Conduct," Bali adds.

Feasibility
With regards to the emerging trends in mobility, one question is often asked that is of their feasibility in the Indian context, particularly in the near future. But Bali says electro-mobility and alternate fuels are already a focus as per government direction, schemes and plans in India. "We now need to come together to build the eco-system. Driverless vehicles look tough when you consider highway traffic, but to think again in a large country like India there are many circumstances - mining; closed campuses; city centers; key highways - which could leap frog towards greater automation. We have to be innovative and see what India needs with an open mind and embark on initiatives and approaches that are best for India," Bali adds with confidence.

Enabling collaborations
Speaking about eco-systems means collaboration and innovation. How can that be enabled in India? Bali believes that it is important for us in India to build a regulatory frame work which promotes R&D and provides financial support in the area. It is important to also build a culture where we have access to readily available information in the future technology areas across stakeholders - industry/academy/authorities/market/customer/ et al. This would be an important foundation for a strong collaborative culture between all stakeholders - academia, authorities, industry, market, society, various other stakeholders.
"When we seek to innovate and collaborate we will always face obstacles and failures too. We should not be shy of that. What we need is to be able to quickly come together on demonstrable projects with a shared vision amongst various stakeholders. This, of course, also means that as a nation we need to build clearly policies and road maps that provide a common thread for all - in the form of a shared vision we believe in. This allows for all to channelize their energy, time and money in the right areas," he emphasizes.
Bali also understand that none of this can happen if we do not build an entrepreneurial mindset - whether it be an R&D person, academician or the someone in the industry or even the government. And he has a good example to share in this context of the European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs), which is a new approach to EU research and innovation. "EIPs are challenge-driven, focusing on societal benefits, with a rapid modernisation of the associated sectors and markets.  EIPs act across the whole research and innovation chain, bringing together all relevant actors at EU, national and regional levels in order to step up R&D, co-ordinate investments, demonstrations, and fast track enabling factors such as regulations and standards. They also mobilise demand through public procurement. We need such collaborative framework in India too. We are a large nation, with excellent resources and people. If we can act like one single market - we can do wonders," he signs off on an optimistic note.
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