EV Innovation & Business Challenge 2026 (eBAJA + Formula Bharat)

## About the EV Innovation & Business Challenge 2026 Indian student-engineering teams competing at **eBAJA SAEINDIA** and **Formula Bharat** ship some of the most innovative student-built EVs in the country every year — but the work rarely travels beyond the event grounds. This challenge, hosted by **DIYguru** on emobility.careers, gives those teams a structured path to package their innovation as a business and present it to industry judges before they take their vehicle to the final event. The deliverable is a single submission containing three short presentations: **Innovation**, **Technical** and **Business + Cost Structure**. Judges evaluate originality, depth of engineering work, cost realism and the credibility of a startup-ready commercial plan. The top two teams receive cash prizes — **₹1,00,000 for the winning team** and **₹50,000 for the runner-up** — disbursed *before* their main event so the money can fund their final prototype, travel or kit logistics. ## What you submit A single zip / linked-folder containing the three decks below: 1. **Innovation Presentation** — what's novel about your sub-system, drivetrain or full-vehicle approach. 10-15 slides. 2. **Technical Presentation** — the engineering depth behind your innovation. BOM, schematics, FEA / CFD / dyno results, validation plan. 15-25 slides. 3. **Business & Cost Structure Presentation** — TAM, target customer, unit economics, BOM cost, 3-year revenue plan, GTM and a startup-readiness assessment. 10-15 slides. A short prototype-walkthrough video (3-5 minutes, optional but recommended) significantly strengthens shortlisting. ## Who can participate Open to **student teams currently registered for or actively competing at** eBAJA SAEINDIA (2026 or 2027 cycles) or Formula Bharat. Both new and recurring teams welcome. Teams of 4-12 student members from the same institution. Teams must register on emobility.careers, complete their public team profile (this powers the visibility for sponsors and judges) and submit before the deadline. ## Why participate - **₹1,00,000 / ₹50,000 in cash** disbursed before your main event — direct prize money, no equity ask, no strings. - **Industry visibility** — the top 10 teams' decks are circulated to a curated panel of EV-industry hiring managers, accelerator partners and investors via DIYguru's network. - **Recruiter inbox** — every registered team's captain and members get fast-tracked into the emobility.careers candidate pool and surfaced to recruiters at OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers and EV startups. - **DIYguru certification credit** — all participating teams receive credit toward DIYguru's AICTE-approved EV Powertrain or BMS specialisations. - **Real feedback** — every submission receives written feedback from at least two senior judges (not just a numeric score).

## Eligibility - Team must be a registered eBAJA SAEINDIA or Formula Bharat participant for the 2026 or 2027 event cycle. - Minimum 4 and maximum 12 student members from the same institution. - A faculty advisor email is required at registration (verification ping is sent). - Each institution may submit at most **two** teams. If two teams from the same institution finalise, they must work independently. ## Submission rules - One **combined submission** containing all three decks (Innovation + Technical + Business). Combined deck or separate PDFs both accepted. - Decks must be in English or Hindi (Hindi decks must include an English summary slide). - All content must be **original** — code, simulations, designs and CAD must be the team's own work. References to open-source libraries or papers are required where used. - An optional prototype-walkthrough video (3-5 min) significantly strengthens shortlisting. - No teaser / partial submissions — incomplete submissions are auto-disqualified at the moderation stage. ## Originality + plagiarism - DIYguru runs a structured originality review on every submission (decks + linked artefacts). - Detected plagiarism above 25% (excluding cited references) is grounds for disqualification. - Teams must be willing to defend any claim on a 30-minute video call if requested by judges. ## Cash prize disbursement - Prizes are disbursed by bank transfer to the **institution's** student-team account (not individual accounts). - A signed letter from the team's faculty advisor on institution letterhead is required for disbursement. - Disbursement happens within 30 days of result declaration (i.e. by 5 Oct 2026) and is timed to land **before** the team's main eBAJA or Formula Bharat event window. - TDS / tax compliance: prize income is reported per Section 194B; teams should consult their institution's finance office for the exact treatment. ## Conduct - Captains accept responsibility for their team's representation on emobility.careers. - Public team-page content must be respectful and accurate; harassing, plagiarised or unverifiable content leads to disqualification. - DIYguru reserves the right to disqualify any submission found to violate the spirit of the brief.