Pragmatic Model-Based Design approach to accelerate and scale the EV Skills development

While this is an exciting time to be a part of the EV industry, there are many fundamental challenges that all ecosystem participants must address to effectively meet the demands of a rapidly growing market. In this paper we will focus on two of the challenges around the need for efficiency improvement and reduction in development cost and time. While there is a large pool of professionals trained in conventional automotive technologies, there is a pressing need to reskill and upskill the existing workforce and bring in system-level thinking as the industry moves from Conventional powertrain to Electrified powertrains. In order to achieve this, there's a need for the workforce to develop and expand their EV development skills in motor control, battery management, fuel cells, electrical systems, and system simulation. In this paper, a pragmatic model-based design approach has been proposed to accelerate and scale the EV Skills development through the systematic use of models and data. Pragmatic approach does not require starting from the ground up or completely overhauling existing processes and assets. Just the reverse; its fundamental principle is reuse: In pragmatic model-based design approach, data, and models—and the engineering teams’ associated skills in developing analytics, models, and simulations—are applied systematically to workflows throughout the life cycle of the product or service. The approach proposed in the paper focusses on establishing a framework for integration of process, people and tools that can help in accelerating the journey of EV makers from prototyping to production. We will also examine a case study from Mahindra on how workforce and leadership is transforming to enable the forthcoming electric vehicle revolution.