South India’s first ICAT may come up in

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is likely to become the first state in South India to have an International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT). This ICAT will be used for homologation and testing of newly manufactured automobiles. At current, this kind of centre is established at two locations such as Gurugram and Pune. This will be South India’s first ICAT. 

South India’s first ICAT

The New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) vice-chairman and managing director S Ramana Reddy said that a team from ICAT-New Delhi called for a meeting an the meeting includes the members of leading automobile manufacturing companies such as Ashok Leyland and KIA Motors, and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (APIIC) in Vijayawada a few days ago.

ICAT representatives expressed interest 

During that meeting, the ICAT representatives expressed their interest in setting up a research centre and assured of providing investments for the project.

The meeting is expected to be conducted again to discuss with the manufacturing companies in Vijaywada or Anantapur. They will consider the requirements of the manufactures and required steps to be taken to set up the facilities in the proposed research centre.

The ICAT representatives expressed their interest in setting up a laboratory in the state to extend the facilities like certification and homologation, design and engineering, research and development, testing and validation, consultancy, power train development, training and calibration to South India.

They have asked to provide enough land for building up the research centre and assured of providing investments for the project. When asked the role of the NREDCAP in the proposed project Reddy said, “At present, the certification procedure of newly-manufactured vehicles is taking at least three-to-four months. We have requested the ICAT to establish a research centre in the state,”

All new electric vehicles must be certified from ICAT

The centre has sought a 250-acre land for the purpose. The corporation was the nodal agency for EVs and mobility policy. As part of it, all EVs newly should get certified from agencies such as ICAT before they are sold in the market, he added. 

The NREDCAP VC and MD said that the total of 250-acre land is sought by the ICAT representatives around 10 acres and will be allocated for building and testing laboratory and the remaining 240 acre land for vehicle, engine and component testing, vehicle evaluation, electromagnetic compatibility test, noise, and vibration, harshness and tyre tests. Apart from that, they also specified a 2 km long track with 800 metres width for the materialization of the project, he said.

“We have enough land banks in the state and the ICAT representatives are asking for a huge land bank near KIA Motors in Anantapur or in Sri City near Nellore. In case of land scarcity in Anantapur and Nellore districts, we are ready to provide such land in and around Vijayawada,” Reddy said.

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