Eyeing smooth operation of e-buses in India, Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi ZeroCarbon team up with JBM to test smart battery tech in extreme climates and drive cleaner, cost-effective public transport.
Hitachi ZeroCarbon has announced a partnership with JBM Electric Vehicles. The collaboration will involve using Hitachi’s BatteryManager system in electric bus operations. This system will collect real-time data to analyse battery performance, charging patterns, and route efficiency.
JBM is an electric bus manufacturer operating in India, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.
The project will begin with a pilot in India. According to the companies, the country’s varied weather conditions are expected to provide a challenging environment for testing. These include high heat, heavy monsoons, and colder temperatures.
However, Hitachi said the pilot will gather insights into how electric buses perform in such climates. The goal is to better understand battery usage under real-world conditions.
JBM Electric Vehicles noted that the data could help optimise battery performance across different regions. “This collaboration with Hitachi ZeroCarbon will enhance critical parameters for enhancing our battery performance proactively for each customer under different climatic conditions,” said Nishant Arya, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, JBM Auto. “It will enable us to enhance the total cost of ownership (TCO) for the public transport operators and fleet owners for multiple applications across the world.”
The pilot is intended as a step towards developing a wider business model for electric buses in South Asia. Hitachi ZeroCarbon said the goal is to demonstrate that electric vehicles can perform as reliably and affordably as diesel-powered ones.
“This is a landmark initiative for our ZeroCarbon BatteryManager solution,” said Ram Ramachander, CEO of Hitachi ZeroCarbon. “The Indian market is unique and an ideal showcase of how we can help electric fleet operators, manufacturers and innovators better understand the assets in their EV ecosystem.”
Hitachi previously partnered with UK-based First Group in 2024 to support the purchase of 1000 electric buses. It now aims to see whether a similar financing and technology model could be applied in India.
Both companies plan to use findings from the pilot to inform long-term strategies and improve electric transport systems.
