Narrow Roads, Heavy Traffic, and Smart Solutions
He knows the characteristics of mobility in India particularly well: Dhananjay Gaikwad frequently travels from the ZF Head Office in Pune to development centers of car manufacturers in Mumbai. The Senior Sales Manager at ZF considers himself a FutureStarter because he thinks of solutions for almost all local aspects of Next Generation Mobility.
“Narrow roads and heavy traffic in India’s major cities pose special challenges. These challenges will only magnify with further expected increases in vehicles on the roads,” says Dhananjay Gaikwad, who has been with ZF for five years. The annual sales volume is set to grow from 4.3 million new vehicles in 2022 to about seven million in 2030. “The government plans to increase the total share of electrically powered vehicles to 30 percent by the end of the decade,” says Dhananjay, describing the mobility plans. This target seems urgently needed in view of rising emissions concerns across India and around the world.
Dhananjay Gaikwad, Senior Sales Manager at ZF
Turning in one go: EasyTurn by ZF
It is also an objective that paves the way for a technology that is ideally suited to Indian traffic conditions: ”Our EasyTurn suspension axle concept for electric cars almost doubles the possible turning angle as compared to conventional front axles: up to 80 degrees are now possible,” says Dhananjay, explaining the concept. ”This allows the turning circle of a vehicle to be reduced by up to 40 percent.” With EasyTurn, turning maneuvers are much easier in narrow lanes — an argument that is becoming increasingly relevant in India‘s busy and narrow metropolitan areas, especially when even more vehicles will soon have to share the traffic space. EasyTurn works best with rear-wheel drive vehicles. In these vehicles, the front axle is freed from drive functions – and therefore also from the drive shafts, which would otherwise limit the steering angle. ”EasyTurn is a perfect fit for the vehicles to help promote electric mobility with added features across India,” says the mechanical engineer.
The FutureStarter combines his expertise in the fields of mobility and technical solutions.
From individually controlled and tuned drives to the central control system
Dhananjay is fully behind the brand’s strategy: the focus on the four business areas of Vehicle Motion Control, sustainability, electric mobility and automated driving, combined with strong digitalization expertise, makes him optimistic about the future. ”There is hardly another Group that covers so many fields of mobility and can develop solutions for them,” he says, describing the advantages. "We are more deeply involved in many topics than the manufacturers can be.” The Sales Manager previously worked for a company that mainly produced some tech components but not complete solutions. He now appreciates the wide range of technologies, particularly in his area of responsibility and expertise, Vehicle Motion Control and Chassis Solutions: ”The range of technologies I can discuss with my customers extends from the purely mechanical EasyTurn suspension strut axle concept to the cubiX software, the central controller for all vehicle drives.”
“EasyTurn and cubiX can be perfectly combined with other technologies from the company — for example, with by-wire systems or any other technologies from ZF’s chassis solutions portfolio,” Dhananjay says.
In order to be best at his job, Dhananjay Gaikwad needs to fully understand every aspect of the customer's needs.
Trusting relationship with Indian OEMs
He finds the trust that ZF receives from its contacts at the local OEMs to be high and positive and cites a particularly impressive example of this: “In 2023, an Indian car manufacturer presented a prototype of its first electric car and asked our engineers for an honest assessment in comparison with vehicles from established manufacturers. The vehicle is not due to come on the market for some time, but our opinion and assessment were valued by the customer, and this certainly helped us make our case for some business for ZF on these EVs. The ZF Group in India continues to increase its traction with OEM customers, supporting their need for increased localized content to the extent possible. I can’t think of a better proof point on the merit ZF has as a technology company with our customers in India.”
What Exactly Does ZF Do?
We are designing the vehicle of the future. In this process, the focus is on our team, our #FutureStarters. Every day, they are developing technologies – from sustainability, electric mobility and autonomous driving to software, digitalization and vehicle motion control.
