The three founders: Ravi Prasad Sharma - Co-Founder & Chief Motor Designer, Bhaktha Keshavachar - Co-Founder & CEO, and Mahalingam Koushik - Co-Founder & CTO
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In a world still asking “What will be the future of electric mobility?”, Chara’s answer is clear: K.E. = Chara Chara. And that future is being engineered in India, magnet-free.
That’s the quiet revolution taking shape at Chara Technologies, a Bengaluru-based deep-tech startup that’s rewriting the future of electric mobility. While the global EV industry remains hooked on rare earth magnets, Chara is boldly going against the current - developing rare earth-free motors that promise performance, scalability, and environmental responsibility, all in one elegant package.
Founded in 2018, the company is betting big on Synchronous Reluctance Motor technologies, along with proprietary control software, to power everything from electric two-wheelers, soon for passenger cars to industrial drives - all without depending on geopolitically sensitive or environmentally damaging rare earth elements.
Sarada Vishnubhatla sits down for a long conversation with the three founders - Bhaktha Keshavachar - Co-Founder & CEO, Mahalingam Koushik - Co-Founder & CTO; and Ravi Prasad Sharma - Co-Founder & Chief Motor Designer to get the insights into what makes Chara Technologies the pioneers in this domain.


The Great Inception

Chara was founded in 2018 and registered the next year. The founders spent the initial few years executing intense R&D, garnering investment and decoding the laws of physics to find a suitable technology to build sustainable motors. And the need for these is real. Even urgent. Why because India’s petrol import bill for the last five years runs into 100s of billion dollars. And we are burning petrol worth 4500 crore. If a small portion of that becomes electric, India will be doing the exchequer a huge service. 
Bhaktha Keshavachar, Co-founder and CEO of Chara Technologies shares, “We had actually begun working on Switched Reluctance Motors or SRM for about 18 months or so initially, and spent half a million dollars in the beginning. But after we incorporated our company, and raised more funds, we found that with SRMs, the problem of noise and vibration could not be solved and we realized that we needed to change tracks. We switched to Synchronous Reluctance Motors or the SynRMs and started from scratch again.” A design that operates using magnetic reluctance rather than permanent magnets.
Mahalingam Koushik - fondly called Maha by his colleagues, CTO of Chara Technologies explains, “We are a technology-first company and we have the ability to develop motors using any technology.”


Redefining the Motor

Bhaktha wanted to solve a problem. Before it became a crisis for the next generation of our world. He combined that with his passion for working in deep tech, he zeroed down on building rare earth magnet free motors. 
He says, “We believe this is important because the world is undergoing a big energy transition. The transition from hydrocarbons to electrons is already happening and I think it will complete in a decade or so. That is when the motors will become important and there's a huge opportunity to build a new class of motors, which will have these properties. Every motor today has a magnet which is a problem in the future.”
Rare earth metals such as neodymium, dysprosium and deuterium are used in the construction of the magnet. Currently, the auto makers around the world depend on rare earth magnets. These are predominantly mined and processed in China and used in almost all EV motors today. And, geopolitically, this is risky, especially in today’s context. Secondly, the mining and extraction of rare earths is dirty and expensive. 
He continues, “And in this context, we have a rare earth free solution. We are deploying these motors, and this year, we shall do it in large quantities - though it has taken us five years to start generating revenue which is another hallmark of deep-tech. And now, this will not only be the first in India but it will be a first in the world.” 
“When you process a ton of rare earth ore which is a mix of about 17 elements and all of these have similar atomic weights, you get just 25 to 40 grams of usable material. The extraction is a dirty process and the waste is mainly Thorium and Uranium which are radioactive and toxic,” explains Maha.
Not only is the yield abysmal but the ore is found in the top of the Earth’s crust. It means that the top soil gets easily contaminated. On top of that, extremely strong chemicals are used to separate these elements which invariably leads to toxification of the ground water. 
Maha continues, “This is why countries in Europe and the US are not extracting these elements. The harmful effects of this nuclear waste can be seen in Mongolia and China in the form of various health issues including cancers. Not just humans, but animals too fall sick because of these radioactive elements. Hence, electrification is being adopted. We firmly believe in solving this problem.”



On-highway, Off-highway, and Industrial Motor Systems  


‘Mobilising’ Chara - The Premise

Naming the company ‘Chara’ in itself is interesting. In Sanskrit, the name means mobility. And that is exactly what their product does - it’s the motor which moves any vehicle but in a green and sustainable manner.
“The reasons for starting Chara are close to my heart. One is sustainability because we cannot damage our environment further than we, collectively, have already. Second is, we believe going electric is one way of solving the sustainability problem. Made in India has always been a big deal for me. India is a big market. There is a huge opportunity to make the products locally, and then take it to the world.”
The third reason is that Chara wanted to make a product that has never been made before and never deployed anywhere in the world. 
He remembers, “When we started five years ago it was very difficult to talk about rare earth challenges but now it has become a talking point.”
Maha adds, “India has not invested in core technologies and that’s the reason we are always dependent on foreign core technologies. Be they for semiconductors, jet engines or high-speed trains. All these technologies are now old. But now things are changing.”
India is emerging strong and as a major economy globally, and this is the right time for startups like Chara to focus on developing engineering disciplines and manufacturing. For a stronger economy, the country must set up powerful manufacturing industry. And this needs indigenous designing of products, local manufacturing as per customer expectations.
Bhaktha continues, “Building a product like this takes multi-disciplinary skills. We believe in a ground up approach and this was the right opportunity for us, especially when we are witnessing a transition to electric vehicles. People are ready to look at new technologies, and new suppliers. So, we wanted to develop a technology which can be locally designed and manufactured, which will grant us full independence in sourcing materials. We wanted to build a technology that is sustainable and efficient.” 
One of the pre-requisites of building a motor controller is that it needs experts from various disciplines - electromagnetic, hardware and software. The founders collectively remember how they ‘literally built the first couple of motors by hand’. 
Bhaktha reminisces, “I wrote the software, then we built the hardware and now we have a team who are helping us.” 
Ravi Prasad Sharma, the third founder and Chief Motor Designer shares, “Back when we had founded Chara, we saw that people who were building EVs were completely dependent upon other countries for everything - from motors to drive trains. We chose well to build sustainable motors and building these require a combination of talents. Bhaktha is good at building an organization, designing rare earth free motor systems for applications across sectors, Maha is good at developing controller power electronics and advanced control algorithms optimised for rare earth free motors. And I design and develop rare earth free motor systems.”
Chara’s goal was never just to make a motor but to build a system - controller, software, and mechanical design - developed together to deliver a coherent performance package.
Though, creating a niche for themselves has been tough - a fact the founders of Chara accept totally. 
Bhaktha explains the challenges that they faced, “In the beginning, we kept getting the same three questions. First - where has this motor been deployed before? Second - what are the long-term reliability and safety metrics? The truth is, we don’t have 10 years of data. We've done accelerated testing and some estimates, and we believe the motor is highly reliable - but we don’t yet have the long-term numbers to prove it. The third concern was the typical startup risk. Large companies are often hesitant to engage with startups, fearing they might vanish in a couple of years. That hesitation still exists to some extent. But we’ve addressed the startup risk - simply by staying in the game. We've proven our commitment over the past two years.”


Pioneering a Winning Technology

Chara chose Synchronous Reluctance Motor because this technology is free of rare earth magnets. 
Maha outlines the USP of Chara, “We understand the powertrain requirements end-to-end. Most of our customers have shared that they are unable to get adequate support from some of the existing suppliers, but we are able to customize and support their requirements. We have the in-depth understanding of the technology. Our customers come to us because of the rare earth risk. And now we can say that most of these have not just become our customers but have stayed with us because of the quality, support and customization that we offer.”
Agrees Ravi, “Our team is skilled to resolve customer challenges quickly because we source locally.”
There are various applications even in motors and Chara is now focusing on specific applications and power ranges to create maximum impact. Motors is an area where they can execute limitless innovations. 
Bhaktha points out, “Look at the current figures. It is estimated that today we have a little more than four motors per head in the world and it will increase to six motors per head, which is a huge jump as we go forward with electrification. And this is the only way to save our planet today.” 
Using fossils to generate electricity makes more sense in the context of large-scale plants. It means that the small vehicle engine is the most inefficient way of using fossil fuels to generate power even if the electricity is coming from non-clean sources. Still, if you look at the entire cycle, it is much more efficient compared to using the petrol, diesel or gas directly in the vehicle.
Chara founders are humble enough to work hard at enabling India move towards opting rare earth magnet free motors. 
“We are contributing in our own small way by making the core prime mover which is the rare earth magnet free motor that is completely made in India. There are customers who are interested in our motors and we have received a couple of orders from Europe which we have supplied also. We hope to scale that up and now we are getting a lot more interest from the US,” says Maha.
Globally, many countries are conscious about sustainable motors, especially those in the EU. There are companies, and start-ups like Chara, that are based in the US, Canada, UK and South East Asia which are building reluctance motors. 
Chara founders are confident that there will be a good reception for their products. 
“We've held back in going to export markets in the past three years because we wanted to build our solution and prove it here so that when we take it to the market there is a good amount of data and credibility behind it,” shares Maha.


Going Global

Chara founders believe that they have great products and technology to bring to the table with global brands. And one of them is in South Korea.
Bhaktha agrees, “We would love to go to South Korea. The country was not so well developed 40 or 50 years ago, they were almost at the same stage as India. But now they're a fully developed economy with big brand names like Hyundai and we have had conversations with them in the past. We are sure that once we have a solution for them, we will approach them again. And we are also sure that cars will not be the only market we will be in talks for with them.” 
The founders swear by the advantage that South Korean companies bring and that is they are global companies.
He is excited when he says, “If we ever get a chance to be even in one of their little products, we will be looking at the global market. We will probably start addressing them by the end of this year once we build the 70 KW motor for the smaller cars, then we can go start selling them.”
“We believe that they can understand our technology and both the companies can exchange great cooperation leading to closer relations between the two countries and of course, we can exchange our technologies too and work towards a better and sustainable motors,” Ravi opines.
South Korea has a comprehensive public transportation infrastructure. And Hyundai is strong in vertical integration. 
Maha shares, “They are the pioneers in EVs and they have developed great powertrains, motor controllers and e-axels. Their product showcase in the recently concluded Bharat Expo in Delhi was impressive. they are quite ahead with their technology, so it will be good if at some point we can collaborate with Hyundai.” 




12kW EV On-highway & Off-highway Motor System - SYRTT  


Home Front

Chara enjoys the patronage of more than 35 customers of which a big percentage are based in India and the remaining are from abroad. Of these, more than 10 have completed the full validation and given Chara their validation report. Of them, six companies have placed orders and other customers have placed repeat orders of different products that will be used in different vehicles. 
Ravi believes that even if customers back home like to wait and watch, the robustness of their technology even in a small segment will help the news spread that it is a success. 
He says, “People will come to us based on that and that's a great advantage.”
Chara, since its inception, has trained its focus on the on-road electric vehicles like the 2- and 3-wheelers but in the future, they wish to focus on bigger EV segment as they scale up their technology. Most of their motors are in the peak power range of five kilowatt to 15 kilowatt. And they are in the process of developing 30-kilowatt and 70-kilowatt peak power motors, which they will cater to the passenger car segment.
On the electric vehicles front, India is witnessing serious traction, which is largely driven by economics, and less by environmental concerns. The cost to operate an EV - especially for commercial vehicles like auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers - is proving significantly lower than diesel or petrol alternatives. Drivers can save around ₹3.45 per kilometer, making EVs a compelling choice. While infrastructure issues like charging speed and range anxiety still exist, adoption is rising because of the clear operational cost benefits. 


Proving the Concept

Proving the concept for a deep-tech product like this is challenging on several levels. Sometimes laws of physics demand greater attention to detail, prove to be tough to solve yet those who persevere break the code.
Bhaktha explains, “Broadly there are two kinds of motor technology deployed in the world today - the permanent magnet-based motors which are used in all vehicles and they work extremely well but the issue is the usage of magnets. The other kind is called induction motors which also work but they are about 60 to 70 percent efficient only. It means that a third of the energy we put in is wasted. Then there is another class of motors which works in a different fashion. They are called reluctance motors.” 
And, interestingly, the technology or the principles behind this has been known for a long time, though nothing has been deployed because of the inherent engineering problems that come with it. Challenges such as noise, torque ripple, power density and the complexity of control. These motors are highly non-linear, so the control is complex. 
He continues, “Now because there is a need for electrifying and there is a rare earth problem, there is a keen interest globally. But our solution is unique and nowhere it is deployed even though there are people working on it like we are. So, we use the concept of reluctance. Our motors are about 94 per cent efficient and we deliver the same torque and power like the regular motors. So, there is no compromise there.” 
Another key challenge that Chara faces comes in the form of time. Designing these motors takes a long time compared to the conventional ones because these are highly non-linear machines and developing the control software of the motor is highly complicated. And that is why in Bhaktha’s words ‘Chara is still not the darlings of the investment community’. 
Bhaktha pitches in, “And, that is why it is our biggest USP that we have developed the algorithms that control this motor. These are generally called software-controlled motors because software is a bigger component and those are the problems we have solved.”
These motors have design problems and are 15 per cent heavier than the conventional motors. From the customer point of view, it is a huge challenge. Not just heavy but they are large too than the conventional ones. From a system point of view, these motors are used to drive a vehicle whose gross weight is much heavier. With gradual increase in awareness, people are finally realizing that the weight of the motor does not really matter because the difference in efficiency is not much. 
He adds, “Our motors can go up to 10,000 rpm which is a fairly good speed to satisfy many needs. We are extremely confident given enough time and resources, we will continue to do our research and development and evolve to be as fast as and lighter as any other conventional motor.” 
Maha chimes in, “Yes, we are working on technology improvements to reduce the weight of the motor and to increase its performance also. There are certain metrics, for example, there is something known as the efficiency of the machine. One of the advantages that we have seen when we benchmark against the permanent magnet-based motors is that our weighted average efficiency based on real life drive, what is known as drive cycle efficiency, is better compared to the permanent magnet-based motors even though the peak efficiency matches, we are having better drive cycle efficiency which means that we have better range. Now this is a very important metric that is not always talked about. So, our point is that the weight increase is less than half a per cent of the entire vehicle weight, and with the added benefit of getting better range and independence from the rare earth magnets, this makes it a winning combination. But the decision maker needs to have a technical understanding which is one of the challenges.”
This gives Chara the opportunity to learn a few things on how to improve things. They work closely with the clients’ vehicle designs for powertrains to understand the vehicle level requirement to be able to execute complete integration. Chara’s team of experts conduct a series of tests and work on increasing performance, while tweaking and tuning the parameters to get the highest possible performance.
Ravi shares, “The permanent magnet portals definitely have a strong magnet. But with our motors, we can maximize efficiencies as per the customer needs. It is because we can control some of the flux levels better than permanent magnet motors. We can get better performance, and application efficiency which the customers did not understand initially. And those customers who think of our motors as heavier, they are now realising that our motors are able to meet their usage needs better than any conventional motor and its application.”
Also, Chara’s experts understand the non-linearity of the machine and that’s why they have been able to fine-tune their control systems to match that aspect of the machine. 
Maha continues, “That enables us to extract the maximum performance out of the motor which gets our customers the most optimized efficiency at every possible load point. This is a clear advantage that we have developed over the past three years.” 



14kW EV On-highway & Off-highway Motor System - SYRTW  


Control Algorithms - A Winning Mantra

Chara’s founders have engineered custom control algorithms and developed their firmware entirely from scratch which grounded in a deep understanding of motor architecture. And they have adopted digital twin technology too. 
Maha elaborates on its use, “We’ve parametrized our control software. At present, we adjust these parameters based on the motor type. In the future, we aim to fine-tune them individually for each motor - even within the same category - based on its real-world performance. Every motor has slight variations in tolerance, dimensions, or torque-per-amp characteristics. Our software is designed to accommodate these differences dynamically. By simply updating the parameters, we can adapt the motor’s behaviour on the fly. It’s a fully software-driven approach, and we’re actively collecting operational data from our motors in the field. Even when two motors are used in identical vehicle applications, their performance parameters won’t be identical. That’s a reality of manufacturing variability.”
The advantage of Chara’s system is that even after deployment, they can continue to receive performance data from the motor via the OEM - allowing ongoing optimization and support. The startup Chara is currently in discussions with OEMs to evolve its technology to make it into a value-added service model which enables continuous performance enhancement post-deployment.
As Maha explains, “It’s similar to a firmware or OTA update, but in our case, we do not need to replace the firmware itself. We simply tweak the control parameters based on real-time data analytics. These parameter updates are pushed remotely, and the motor’s performance is optimized automatically - without any hardware intervention. This approach allows us to improve operational efficiency in a seamless, software-defined manner. For example, one customer might be using the motor in a cargo vehicle, while another deploys it in a construction machine. We can customize the motor behaviour for each application by fine-tuning the parameters to suit specific use cases.”
Chara’s motor designs are inherently application-agnostic, meaning they can be adapted across a wide range of use cases. Even when deployed in identical applications - say, 100 motors in the same vehicle category -each motor might require slight adjustments to achieve peak performance. If viewed from a hardware perspective, the key differences often lie in how the motor is mounted and connected to the shaft and spline. These configurations can vary from one customer to another. There are also small but important variations -  such as the types of pins or signal protocols used -  on both the hardware and software sides. To accommodate this, they have built their controller with additional configurable features. The software is modular and parameter-driven, which makes it easy to tailor to specific customer requirements. In essence, the entire system is designed for flexibility - so it can be deployed across diverse platforms without the need for complete redesigns. 
The founders of Chara Technologies have envisioned a future where the industry recognizes and relies on the “Chara standard” for electric motor quality and performance. It is an ambitious goal and they believe it is achievable over time.
“There’s already a wide variety of specifications in the market,” says Bhaktha. “We’re gradually establishing our own benchmark and making the case that this is the standard to follow. If the product quality speaks for itself, the market will adopt it.”
Ravi adds perspective on the challenge, “A lot of components today come from our neighbouring country, and even for the same application, they come in different mechanical configurations and specs. We are working through all of that. Just as gearboxes have become standardized in India over time, motors will follow suit. It is a process and we know that but we are on the right path.”
To strengthen its position and address scalability concerns, Chara has recently announced a strategic partnership with Greaves Cotton. As part of the agreement, Greaves will license and manufacture Chara’s motors helping the startup meet the growing demand while offering OEMs greater confidence in long-term supply chain continuity.


Capacity Building, Scaling Up and Validation

Chara’s pilot plant currently produces up to 2,000 motors per month. While adequate for prototyping and small-scale orders, the start-up knows it must scale. They are proud of the in-house capability to design, test and manufacture their motors. 
Taking up the point of signing a strategic partnership with Greaves Cotton, Bhaktha explains a little, “We will cater to small passenger cars in the near future and for that, we have to scale up our deployment and manufacturing. In that context, our manufacturing partnership agreement with Greaves Cotton will take us places. It is a company which primarily makes diesel engines, but they want to get into motor manufacturing now. So, they have signed up a partnership with us wherein we license our technology to them and they will manufacture it and sell it down their network. It is a win-win for both the companies because we get a manufacturing giant and the brand name and their distribution, while they get the technology and the support from us, and we hope to see more such partnerships materialising in the coming future.”
Their partnership with Greaves brings a crucial sense of stability and trust to Chara’s customers. 
He adds, “Even if we were to face financial challenges, Greaves would continue manufacturing - ensuring continuity. That kind of assurance is key in this industry.”
He adds, “In the beginning, we collaborated with smaller companies  - those more open to risk and in urgent need of customization and support, which no one else was offering them. That’s where we built our foundation. Now, we’re working with bigger players like VST and Greaves, and even companies outside India are showing interest. The environment is changing in our favour.”
Bhaktha recalls how difficult it was initially to gain acceptance: “When we just had the motor, people were sceptical. So, we went a step further - we integrated it into the vehicle and demonstrated the performance. We made direct comparisons. Slowly, that shifted perceptions.”
Now that Chara has a few deployments under its belt, and as word spreads, the deserved validation is finally coming in. It’s been a long road, but the momentum is real, is what the founders feel.
“We have several customer deployments and a handful of them have completed validation and shared detailed performance data, which we’re able to disclose. Most notably, our motor has been independently tested by a research lab at IIT Madras, providing credible third-party validation. For those seeking proof of performance, that report is available. More formal case studies - highlighting how our technology has delivered value - are expected to be published later this year, as larger-scale deployments roll out,” assures Bhaktha.
Chara’s motors are already deployed in cargo and passenger three-wheelers, where customers have reported up to 15% energy efficiency gains. 



5Hp Industrial Motor System - SYRVK       


Global Benchmarks and Crucial R&D

Globally, Tesla has announced plans for a rare earth-free drivetrain, and BMW is working on magnet-free motors. However, few have commercially deployed them at scale. In India, Chara is one of the few companies developing rare earth-free motors in-house. While most OEMs import drive systems or rely on foreign partners, Chara is one of the few companies that is building this critical component entirely in-house.
“We are a technology company at heart, and we’re committed to sustained investments in R&D and next-generation innovation,” says Bhaktha.
There are essentially a couple of ways to tackle the rare-earth dependency problem. One is to mine and extract rare earths ourselves. The other and far more sustainable approach is to develop magnets that do not rely on rare earth materials at all. That is the path Chara is on. Another fact is the newness of the technology and there is much doubt which the founders of Chara have accepted completely. 
He shares, “But we are definitely seeing more and more customer traction and the environment changing around us which is helping us. Raising money is extremely hard for companies like ours because we are practically the disruptors, but also there is much scepticism. Most people do not understand and hence they cannot assess and they also talk to customers who are also not clear. But once we start deploying then we are sure there will be more support. Right now, the support is extremely thin not just in India but around the world also.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Maha adds, “Our focus remains on making our motors faster, lighter, and more efficient. Over the long term, we also plan to explore alternative rare-earth-free technologies. While today we use widely available materials like steel, copper, and aluminum, we see significant potential in improving electrical-grade steel. Enhancing the material itself could significantly boost motor performance. However, that requires a larger investment and more robust funding.”
Looking ahead, Chara is also taking early steps into software-driven motor intelligence. It will allow their team to remotely monitor motor performance and enable predictive maintenance - shifting from reactive fixes to proactive optimization.


Funding and Deep-Tech Headwinds

Chara has raised early-stage capital from angel investors but admits that deep-tech fundraising in India is difficult. “VCs prefer SaaS-style returns. Hardware doesn’t work like that,” Bhaktha explains. The company is now seeking institutional backing for scaling production and R&D.
Ravi reflects on the mindset needed to build in deep tech: “There are three Ps every founder must live by - passion, patience, and perseverance. Without these, it’s almost impossible to sustain through the challenges.”
He adds, “Of course, there’s this popular phrase - ‘fake it till you make it’- and while there’s a bit of truth in it, especially in the startup world, what really matters is showing something tangible. From what I’ve seen, many startups have brilliant ideas, but unless you create at least a skeletal or scaled-down physical model of your product, it remains abstract.”
The ground reality, as the founders have experienced, is that most often the investors struggle to grasp abstract tech concepts. That makes earning their confidence equally tough. Despite limited resources, Chara has reported Rs 1 crore in revenue for FY 2024, with Rs 2.7 crore in bookings. It is targeting Rs 45 crore in revenue this year.


Going Forward

Hiring in deep-tech is not easy, but Chara has built a team of 75 - spanning domains such as electromagnetics, embedded systems, mechanical design, and software. It collaborates informally with academic institutions and draws on industry veterans for guidance.
“We look for engineers who understand the physics, not just the CAD models,” Ravi notes. “We need people who can get their hands dirty. We believe that we are the most sustainable and efficient motor that is rare-earth magnet free. We think in the next couple of years, we will see the largest hike in their acceptance since India offers a huge opportunity.”
Though market behaviour is unpredictable, recent momentum from production and marketing teams suggests strong near-term potential. The founders understand that in deep tech, predicting beyond five years is difficult, but they remain focused on a clear vision.
In the next few years, Chara aims to:
· Ship one million motors, displacing rare-earth-based alternatives and reducing carbon emissions equivalent to planting 10 million trees.
· Recognised as a Center of Excellence for any motor design, where even other companies approach Chara for custom designs.
· Become a globally recognized deep-tech company born in India, joining the ranks of a few Indian deep-tech ventures that scale internationally.
The journey has been tough, requiring hands-on experts rather than consultants, and the team continues to stay motivated by their mission, the challenge of building real technology, and a desire to make India self-reliant in motor manufacturing.


From Core Tech Dream to Market Reality

Summarising Chara Technologies’ journey from inception to date is tough. And, not just because it is an evolving story. But also, because this particular dream demands sweat, blood and tears. Yet, the three founders are happy to be on this journey. 
Bhaktha feels this has been equal parts hard journey and an emotional journey. He shares, “One thing is true for three of us - this has been a great learning process, we have learned, and evolved. We have grown from a 2-member team to a 75-member entity now.”
Ravi is equally hands-on when he says, “Many people recognise our product now - not only in India but around the world. And it is a fulfilling experience.”
Maha’s words feel heartfelt. He feels, “Working with Chara Technologies has been a dream job for me personally. We started with a vision and we are turning it into a reality now. That’s what we call it a dream coming true.”
Their collective message to those thinking of founding a deep-tech startup is simple - Go through the highs and lows of the growth process with honesty, without agitation. Only then successful companies are born.
They know because Chara Technologies is one.

 

Mahalingam Koushik -Graduate of the famed IIT-Madras and RPI, NY, Maha has deep expertise in power electronics and is the brains behind many of the innovative IP developed at Chara Technologies to make SYNRM a reality. At Chara, he spearheads the development of the controller power electronics and advanced control algorithms optimized for Rare-Earth-Free motors. 

Bhaktha Keshavachar –With a vision to make India a self-reliant nation during the current energy transition from Hydrocarbons to Electric, Bhaktha co-founded Chara Technologies, a deep-tech solution to make the electric future sustainable. At Chara, he is spearheading the team to design and manufacture Rare-Earth-Free Motor Systems for applications ranging across sectors such as EV, Industrial, HVAC, and more.

Ravi Prasad Sharma –Ravi has over four decades of experience building motors of various shapes and sizes for different applications. At Chara Technologies, he is spearheading the development of Rare-Earth-Free Motor Systems and revolutionizing the world of Motors yet again.

Chara Technologies –Building technologies to drive the Zero Emission future
Chara Technologies is a Bengaluru (India)-based deep-tech startup that’s rewriting the future of electric mobility. While the global EV industry remains hooked on rare earth magnets, Chara is boldly going against the current — developing rare earth-free motors that promise performance, scalability, and environmental responsibility. Chara is working towards reducing millions of tons of carbon emissions from industries, mobility, buildings and households with their revolutionary and sustainable solution.