Karthick A

Karthick is currently a Professor of Practice at IIT Madras. He is also a Fellow with the Principal Scientific Advisor’s office, Govt. of India as well as the Initiative Director for eLorry- an initiative to accelerate Zero Emission Trucking in India.

Karthick is half-way through a 4-year sabbatical from Ashok Leyland, where he was the Senior Vice President & Head of their eMobility Business and Technology till September 2020.

At IITM, he is developing and launching different multi-disciplinary Programs in eMobility- as well as initiating various Projects jointly across Academia-Industry-Govt. He is also deeply involved with the Govt. of India, Industry Associations and Academia to improve eMobility-related R&D, Standards Development, Skilling and Innovation- including the setting up of a Centre of Excellence for Zero Emission Trucking in India.

With the PSA’s office as a Fellow, Karthick helped the Govt. of India develop cutting edge, unique and innovative Charging Standards to suit the Indian context for e2Wheelers and eBuses. He has helped the PSA’s Office in preparing R&D and Technical RoadMap for Zero Emission Trucking and eMobility in India to help the country achieve leadership position in the medium term.

At Ashok Leyland, he handled projects like the eMobility Business, Captain Cab, Sunshine School Bus, Circuit eBus and the HyBus Hybrid Bus. He was the Platform Director and Chief Engineer for Buses, Cabs & Load Bodies and also managed the Product Development for Optare- Leyland’s subsidiary in the UK.

In his earlier role as the Head of Global Bus Platform, he was instrumental is recasting the Global Bus Portfolio of the company, targeting new markets, trends and segments. As the Head of AL’s eMobility Business he had been in the forefront of electrification of Commercial Vehicles in India- helping AL win many awards in the eMobility space for Innovation.

Before joining Ashok Leyland, for the previous 15+ years, Karthick was a successful entrepreneur and had promoted, developed, managed and sold three businesses in the Die Making, Product Engineering and IT domains.

Karthick is interested in Travel and Wildlife and is proud of his association with the Ashok Leyland team that developed, for & during the COVID crisis, a value Respirator for First Mile use and non-critical care.