We had the opportunity to interact with Mr. Omer Basith, CEO, Virtual Forest, who shared his insights on how Virtual Forest is helping the companies with innovative green technologies to combat climate change. One of the areas that Virtual Forest is pioneering with its innovation is the motor control, whereby delivering energy efficient technology for home appliances, and electric mobility.
Here’s an excerpt from the interaction.
With the focus on improving the energy efficiency of home appliances, what kind of innovations are happening at Virtual Forest to develop energy efficient motor control solutions? What improvements will such innovations bring to home appliances if they become mainstream?
We specialize in electronics for energy efficient appliances very specifically motor control solutions for motor run appliances like air conditioning, refrigerators, mixer grinders, ceiling fans, washing machines and the like. Motors consume around 65% of residential energy and our solutions are on average reducing the energy consumed by Motor-run appliances by 35%. The developing technologies specifically for high consumption applications like air conditioners and ceiling fans to begin with, these will have an immediate impact on the total energy mix in residences. Moving forward, we are developing technologies that will help reduce the energy consumption in washing machines, refrigerators, and mixer grinders these will be more quality-of-life improvements than energy efficiency improvements.
As India majorly depends on electronics imports from China, what has been the impact of the frequent Chinese lockdowns and Chip shortages on the consumer electronics and appliances industry in India, how is Virtual Forest geared to address the ecosystem gap in the ESDM space.
India is wholly dependent on China for electronics, specifically for home appliances well across industries but specifically for home appliances. Virtual Forest has been the first Indian company to successfully substitute Chinese imports in a variety of key applications, like air conditioning, ceiling fans, washing machines and other home appliances. The frequent shutdowns have led to major supply disruptions in the Indian home appliance industry. Last year at the peak of summer, Indian companies were not able to sell enough air conditioners because they didn’t get enough electronics or compressors, which are also imported from China. Similarly, we’ve had a couple of clients who have seen major disruptions due to the recent shutdowns in Shanghai, and this has impacted that production as well. Indian companies now realize that it’s important for them to have a strategic partner closer to home, a partner that helps give them a little bit more visibility and is able to support them in across timelines, including times of need. Virtual forest is in a sense, having revolutionized the entire home appliance space for the first-time electronics which have otherwise been completely served by imports are now being manufactured in India. And then of course, price benchmarked, and technology benchmarked to anything else in the world. And we’re enabling this through our capability in motor control and the systems that we’ve built and the partners that are assisting us in manufacturing these appliances.
