An Indian-Built Device That Can Charge Your EV While You Drive

In 2020, a man walked into a showroom, determined to buy an electric car. He wanted to go green but walked out with a petrol vehicle instead, not because he changed his mind, but because India simply wasn’t ready. Charging stations were rare. In fact, by 2020, there were fewer than 1,000 public EV charging points in the country. Charging times were long and the fear of running out of power midway through a journey lingered at the back of his mind. Most people would’ve moved on, but this one didn’t.

That man was Wesley Jambarapu, an IIT Khanpur graduate, who later teamed up with fellow IIT graduates to build a solution that he now says could change India’s EV landscape. It’s a palm-sized device called the Loop Charging Module (LCM). The idea is wild but simple - cars generate wind when they move, so what if you could harness that airflow and convert it into electricity?

“Everyone was focused on charging from the outside. We wondered if the car could help charge itself while driving,” says Jambarapu, co-founder of Loop Charging Module Tech.

The team has built a working prototype that does exactly that. Using a system of micro wind turbines, a custom torque converter, and smart energy regulation, the LCM feeds recovered energy back into the prototype car’s battery in real time. It’s like regenerative braking, but for air.

The idea isn’t entirely new. Wind turbines have long been used to convert kinetic energy into electricity, but the LCM team has taken it several steps further. Unlike traditional turbine setups, which top out at about 40-50 per cent efficiency due to the widely accepted Betz Law (which caps theoretical efficiency at 59.2 per cent), LCM claims this device can help achieve up to 70 per cent efficiency thanks to a component the team created itself: a torque converter that stabilises power generation during inconsistent wind flow and ensures the battery isn’t overloaded.

Internal simulation tests have been promising, and have shown that for every 10 kilometres driven, users could regain up to 7 kilometres of range. In Jambarapu’s words, “We’re not saying you’ll never have to charge your EV again, but you’ll need to do it far less often. That alone could solve a huge part of the range anxiety problem in India.” Considering India sold over 2 million EVs cumulatively by early 2025 (source - NITI Aayog), even a small boost in efficiency could impact millions of drivers.

The LCM is now in the early stages of testing with talks of collaboration with leading homegrown automakers in India, including Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki. If road trials go well, the team plans to scale manufacturing by early next year.

“Our goal isn’t to compete with existing charging infrastructure, it’s to complement it. The future of EVs in India depends on making them truly practical, and we believe LCM can be part of that equation,” Jambarapu adds. This could be significant, as India now has over 2,400 public charging stations (Source: Ministry of Power, 2024), a number that, while growing at 60 percent year-on-year, still falls far short of the infrastructure needed to support rapid EV adoption.

The journey hasn’t been without obstacles. Jambarapu explained that a major hurdle was navigating the classic startup conundrum, “We need to prove the technology to get funded, and to make a product, we need funding."

On the engineering front, the team spent months running simulations and experiments to push the boundaries of range and actually accomplish 70 percent efficiency. Another significant challenge was ensuring universal compatibility with all EV types.

“If you talk with any OEMs, they’ll say okay, we can have a deal with one car, but not for all. So we had to make sure our product could adapt to every model, that was a major headache," Jambarapu noted.

Designing a compact, modular device that integrates into different car platforms required several design iterations and extensive testing. While India is the startup’s first focus, international attention is building. It has already attracted interest from capital venture investor Tim Draper, an early backer of Tesla’s Series C.

So, this isn’t just about charging EVs, it’s about reimagining how energy is captured and used in real time. Jambarapu shared that it’s a shift that the company hopes could eventually extend beyond cars, into electric trains, drones, and other mobility systems. From missing out on his EV dream to building a product that could help millions fulfill theirs, Wesley Jambarapu’s journey is a reminder of what Indian ingenuity can do when it meets necessity. And the LCM might just be the breath of fresh air our electric future needs.