Traffic congestion and poor air quality are a daily reality throughout global urban areas, including in India. But it’s more than just an inconvenience. There’s a huge impact on both the economy and citizens’ health.

Based in Pune, India, Vayve Mobility’s mission is to redefine short-distance urban mobility with an innovative—yet practical—approach to electric vehicle design relying on solar energy.  Reducing carbon and returning to blue skies are the main goals, along with a host of other benefits including better accessibility to education and jobs that drive further prosperity.

Big automotive advancements can come in small packages. Vayve Mobility’s flagship product, Eva, isn’t just another EV. With a compact footprint of just under 10 feet long and 4 feet wide, it’s designed to navigate crowded streets and has a two-person capacity that is ideal for daily commutes typically averaging around 20 miles each day. And, just like larger cars, it features the amenities drivers and passengers expect, from an attractive exterior to a comfortable interior with air-conditioning, smartphone integration, and over-the-air software updates.

“Eva is designed not just as a product for India, but for the global markets,” says Nilesh Bajaj, CEO, Vayve Mobility. “The product requirements we have in India are also there for Southeast Asia, Africa, and European markets where cities are dense, population density is high, and infrastructure is already overloaded with the number of vehicles on the road. Our dream is to see hundreds of thousands of Evas in many countries to improve the traffic situation and environment and make the local commute simpler for many people.”

One of the most unique aspects of Eva is its solar panel on the roof. Solar charging alone for Eva provides up to 15 kilometers of driving per day, as well as the capability for DC fast charging that brings the total range to 250 kilometers in under an hour. Vayve Mobility is also developing the CT5 EV taxi with a proportionately compact footprint for five passengers as a new option for shared mobility.

Revving up with Autodesk Fusion

In an automotive landscape dominated by established Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Vayve Mobility is paving its own way for its solar EV designs. A key component of their development process has been the use of Autodesk Fusion.

The team first started with an open-source tool, but quickly realized its limitations. When weighing professional CAD tools, they realized a big difference in cost and features. So, they decided to give Autodesk Fusion a try. According to Bajaj, Fusion provides a perfect combination of data security, the ability to collaborate in the cloud unlike other traditional offline CAD packages, and flexibility to grow with the software.

“We began with the start-up license for a few of our team members and then quickly graduated to the commercial license,” Bajaj says. “With Fusion, we can seamlessly collaborate not just within the team, but also with our vendor partners. The data became secure at the same time. Because Fusion is modular, we did not have to invest in the complete toolchain upfront, but rather we bought the licenses of the extensions and the modules that we required as the team grew.”

Most of Vayve Mobility’s mechanical engineering team are either seasoned members with former OEM experience using different software or fresh out of college. All shared a common trait—an unfamiliarity with Fusion. But that didn’t last long. The team was able to quickly and easily learn how to use the software, thanks to support from Autodesk throughout the transition to the commercial licenses and Fusion’s own intuitive user interface.

Driving a new design from scratch

For Vayve Mobility’s design process, a key partner first started generating surface data in Autodesk Alias. Once the Vayve Mobility team received the data, they split it into different panels, a demanding process where everything is engineered one by one.

“We do this complete process, including the design of the chassis and the mechanical integration in Fusion,” Bajaj says. “We also do periodic reviews of our model in Fusion as well as in a VR headset. Once we are satisfied that we have a level of maturity in the model, we can release it for prototyping.”

During the design phase, collaboration in Fusion is a massive benefit with so many moving pieces in development. For example, the team can see a potential conflict between neighboring components or any potential packaging issues. They can even do mechanical integration reviews and make design for manufacturing choices even before the complete model is ready.

“Using the cloud isn’t just file storage, but an active integration with the development process,” Bajaj says.“We have around 10 people in our mechanical design team, and they work on different modules. The team lead takes these individual components and puts them in a single model, which he can review in real-time as the model develops.

“Everyone can work independently, but we can see the progress of the whole model as it is coming along while the development is happening and not as an afterthought,” he continues. “It saves a lot of time in the iteration process.”

During the iterations, the team isn’t confined to just the model on the monitor. They can experience it fully with virtual reality as well.

“We can take a Fusion model, load it into a VR system, and then actually go and explore how it looks and feels,” says Vilas Deshpande, co-founder and COO, Vayve Mobility. “It’s really important because you can build a car in CAD and see it on a flat screen, but you don’t experience a car on a flat screen. You sit in it, walk around it, open the door, and duck in to get into the vehicle. Using virtual reality really helps us bring that to life with literally no cost.”

Propelling forward with rapid prototyping

In the automotive industry, traditional OEMs rely heavily on physical models and clay prototypes, which are both time-consuming and expensive to produce. But Vayve Mobility has embraced rapid prototyping and a digital-first approach instead.

“Being a startup, we can’t use the processes that are used by the legacy OEMs,” Bajaj says. “We have to keep the cost in control. By using Fusion, we were able to digitize a lot of early prototyping and reviews that a legacy OEM would normally do as a physical scale or clay model. We completely eliminated that process to make sure that our early prototypes were faster and cheaper to produce.”

When they do produce a physical prototype, the team employs everything from FDM to 3D printing, laser cutting, and three-axis and five-axis milling. “Our workflow is greatly simplified by using Fusion,” Bajaj says. “We can do everything from basic design to optimization and prototyping—including CAM, 3D printing, or milling—all within one tool. We don’t have to do multiple file transfers or file conversions that can lead to data loss. This process is the biggest benefit of using Fusion, and it greatly reduces our prototyping time and effort.”

Looking to the future

Vayve Mobility first debuted Eva at the New Delhi Auto Expo in 2023—and the reaction was beyond their own belief. Consumers, dealers, and vendors took notice. To date, the company has more than 14,000 bookings on its website before Eva has even launched.

“When we opened the show by unveiling the car, we were literally mobbed by media, influencers, consumers, and the industry saying, ‘Wait, this is what I want. I see myself in it,” Deshpande says. “It was a feeling of happiness and that we knew all along this was the right thing to bring to the market. Here are these people, not 10, not 100, but thousands of people coming up and saying, ‘Thank you for bringing this kind of a concept to the road…and when can I get one?’”

Design and engineering continue as Vayve Mobility moves closer to final designs and certifications. But just seeing the Eva and CT5 prototypes out on the street was a magical moment for everyone.

“Seeing the car in actual streets is beyond words,” Bajaj says. “I can’t describe it, and that is mostly because of the reaction. People are super excited to see something really innovative come out of a new company from their city.  It builds and boosts our confidence that we are doing something in the right direction, and we are really excited to build this product for them.”