Karlsruhe/Bangalore, September 19, 2025 – The virtual EV Challenge in Bangalore was successfully completed on September 16, 2025. The student competition centered on electric mobility was initiated by IPG Automotive and Bosch and attracted more than 70 teams from all over India. The five best teams competed against each other in the grand finale at the ETAuto Electric Mobility Summit 2025. The teams' goal was to travel a long distance on a busy Indian road as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The competition is aimed specifically at students and offers a hands-on platform to research innovative technologies for electric vehicles using digital twins and test them under realistic conditions. With this initiative, IPG Automotive and Bosch are emphasizing their commitment to make future technologies accessible in a practical way and support both students and companies in meeting the challenges of electric mobility.

In its role as a key technology partner in driving the design and implementation of this virtual EV challenge Bosch provided them with defined evaluation criteria, based on which teams were shortlisted and assigned simulation environments replicating real-world Indian road conditions. Their solutions were then assessed for their impact on the overall EV driving experience. The competition focused on EV-specific challenges: Participants had to strategically plan charging times, book charging stations, and make decisions under dynamic conditions using Fetch.ai’s agent framework to gain a competitive advantage. Ultimately, the goal was to cover the distance as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The top three winners were honored on site by Steffen Schmidt, President & CEO of IPG Automotive:

1st place: Team EPD-12, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar (Odisha, India)

2nd place: Team MTR, Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering, Mangaluru (Karnataka, India)

3rd place: Team CEG, College of Engineering Guindy, Chennai (Tamil Nadu, India)

"The virtual EV Challenge impressively demonstrates how a realistic competition and innovative simulation technology can go hand in hand. I’m impressed by the results that the Indian students have achieved with the simulation solutions. These initiatives are decisive to familiarize young talents in vehicle development with state-of-the-art tools and to spark their interest for the future of mobility early on," said Steffen Schmidt at the award ceremony.

Based on IPG Automotive’s simulation solution CarMaker, the challenge offered students a simulation environment in which they were able to develop strategies for long-distance driving under realistic conditions. A special feature was the multi-ego application that allowed for simultaneous simulation of multiple electric vehicles and dynamic control of charging processes. It was thus possible to address key challenges of electric mobility – from range planning to energy management – in a practical manner.

“We are convinced that competitions such as the virtual EV Challenge not only promote talent but also provide specific impetus for the advancement of electric mobility in India,” explained Ulrich Schulmeister, Vice President Technology & Engineering at Bosch Mobility.

Together with Steffen Schmidt, he also gave the keynote speech at the ETAuto Electric Mobility Summit, in which both companies highlighted the importance of simulation and virtual prototypes for electric mobility and the transformation of the automotive industry.