An electric car is just a car propelled by one or more electric motors using energy stored in rechargeable batteries, instead of burning petrol or diesel internally and exhausting fumes. There are broadly three kinds of electric cars at present:
- Solar-powered electric cars and vehicles
- Hybrid electric cars powered by a mix of internal combustion and batteries
- Electric cars with on-board battery packs also known as battery electric vehicle (BEV)
The reason for India to make electric cars and vehicles a priority is to fight against the reliance on fossil fuels. Electric cars cause less pollution and eco friendly. Electric cars offer a dramatically lower operating cost compared to conventional internal combustion engines. It is materially cheaper to charge a battery compared to refuelling a conventional liquid fuel tank. EVs have 75-80% fewer moving components and this ultimately translates to a much lower maintenance bill. Over and above the robust operating cost angle, EVs also possess an inherent advantage when it comes to performance and driveability.
Apart from this, there are a number of challenges in the adoption of electric vehicle cars in India in the near future. These include:
- Charging infrastructure
- Battery performance
- Supply-demand gap
- Creating the closed-loop
Lack of battery cell manufacturing
There is a complete absence of primary battery cell manufacturing in India which poses the risk of increasing our trade deficit. At the moment, most manufacturers rely on batteries imported from Japan, China, Korea and Europe. Hence, the Indian market needs encouragement for indigenous technologies that are suited for India. According to a Niti Aayog report, India needs a minimum of 10 GWh of cells by 2022, which would need to be expanded to about 50 GWh by 2025.
Building charging infrastructure
The big challenge is of course charging infrastructure which will need to be combined with existing refuelling stations and at alternative locations closer to homes. According to Aryan, improving battery swapping stations will eliminate wait time for charging, make better use of land, reduce the size of batteries in vehicles and will give an increased available range.
Increasing battery performance
Given the fact that electric charging infrastructure will take considerable time to be replicated and the ubiquity of fuelling infrastructure in India, it is essential that batteries become far more durable to better compete with the internal combustion engine vehicles.
Bridging the supply-demand gap
Another major challenge preventing larger-scale adoption of EVs today is the fact that the range is quite limited, thereby constraining the use-cases for electric vehicles.
Creating the closed-loop mobility ecosystem
Along with charging infrastructure, the establishment of a robust supply chain will also be needed for automakers to make the shift feasible at their end. Further, recycling stations for batteries will need to recover the metals from batteries used in electrification to create the closed-loop required for the shift to electric cars to be an environmentally-sound decision, even after electric vehicles have aged. Currently, Lithium ion batteries are not recyclable and disposal is done by dumping into the landfills.
Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities not growing and thus cannot afford to go for electric vehicles.
With recent transition from BS IV norms to BS VI norms, there is confusion between BSVI vehicles and Electric vehicles. So, there is still not much popularity of electric vehicles.
Currently, road infrastructure is also not very developed in many cities and rural areas.
While the initial push was seen towards making two-wheelers and three-wheelers electric, the bigger need is for electric public transportation and cabs.
Corporate Sectors Perspective
Despite the existing challenges and ambiguity inherent in the sector, major auto manufacturers are now looking at this widely untapped sector with hope. Akhil Aryan, CEO and cofounder ION Energy believes that timely adoption coupled with the electrification of the existing vehicles and growth of charging infrastructure will create a shift, the impact of which will be felt in metropolitan cities especially given that pollution has reached catastrophic levels.
Automobile manufacturers have announced electric four-wheelers such as Hyundai Kona Electric, Mahindra e-Verito, Mahindra e2o, Porsche Taycan, Tata Tigor EV 2019, MG ZS. But many more will be needed if India is to take meaningful steps towards becoming an EV-first nation. EVs will give the necessary boost to the current slump in the automobile sector.
The Indian government is gunning for its goal of making 30% of Indian vehicles electric by 2030. The steps taken in 2019 to promote electric vehicles in the country include:
- Special policy measures such as slashing GST on EVs to 5% versus 28% for combustion engines
- INR 1.5 lakh tax exemption on loans to buy electric vehicles
- INR 10K Cr allocated to FAME II( Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) to push electric mobility through standardization
- Union cabinet has proposed customs duty exemption on certain EV parts including electric drive assembly, onboard charger, e-compressor and a charging gun to cut down costs
- To localise the value chain, cabinet outlayed a five-year phased manufacturing programme (PMP) until 2024
Since most of the railway routes have been electrified in India, we must apply the same to the roads and highways through the use of electric vehicles.
Recent trends on EVs
The establishment of supporting infrastructure like charging and battery swapping stations and the subsequent adoption of the technology by the populace in India will take time, said Japanese auto major Honda.
Govt allows sale and registration of EVs without batteries, move likely to push battery-swapping
The Centre has allowed the sale and registration of electric vehicles without batteries. The move is likely to boost the battery-swapping industry at the same time. The move comes after the ministry of road transport and highways received representation from the industry to delink the cost of battery (which accounts for 30-40% of the total cost) from the vehicle cost. The prototype of the electrical vehicle and the battery (regular battery or the swappable battery) is however, required to be type approved by the test agencies specified under Rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.
Battery swapping essentially involves switching the discharged battery of a vehicle at swapping station with a fully charged one. This essentially reduces the time involved in charging the battery on one’s own. Companies like Ola, Sun Mobility, Lithion, are among companies operating in the battery swapping space in India. Selling vehicles without the battery could bring down the upfront cost of electric two and three wheelers and make them cheaper, compared to internal combustion engine two wheelers and three wheelers.
Nearly a dozen states either issued or proposed electric vehicle policies till date, with Delhi being the latest one. The Delhi government has notified the Electric Vehicles (EV) Policy 2020. It lays the maximum emphasis on replacement of two-wheelers, public transport and shared vehicles and goods-carriers instead of private four-wheelers, with Electric Vehicles (EVs). The aim of the Delhi government was to ensure that 25% of the newly registered vehicles across the city by the year 2024 were electric vehicles.
