Although European countries and America as well have established themselves in terms of having number of growing EVs. In India, the race for EVs has just started.
Ahead of the EU's announcement that is only part of a broad strategy to combat global warming, many automakers announced major investments in EVs. Earlier this month, Stellantis revealed its own EV strategy that includes investing more than 30 billion euros by 2025. Mercedes Benz isn't the only one ‘going for it’ to be dominant, if not all-electric, by the end of the decade. Geely Automobile Holdings Limited's Volvo Cars are committed to going all-electric by 2030, while General Motors Co is aiming to be fully electric by 2035 and Volkswagen AG even plans to build half a dozen battery cell plants in Europe.
EVs in India
In fiscal 2017-2018, according to India’s Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), the EV market in India stood at about 56,000 units sold, as against about 25,000 units sold in fiscal 2016-17.
For the 2018-19 fiscal, there were 129600 EVs sold and in 2019-20 the numbers increased to 155400.
Though EVs currently account for less than 1% of total new vehicle sales in the country, with appropriate government stimuli, they could possibly grow to over 5% in the next few years. While there are over 400 hundred thousand electric two-wheelers on Indian roads, there are just a few thousand electric cars. Industry volumes have fluctuated widely, depending on incentives offered by the government from time to time. Various other automobile manufacturers have now started working extensively towards introducing EVs in their portfolios. Major players like Renault, Hyundai and Suzuki, among others, had presented their EVs at Delhi’s 2018 International Auto Expo.
India has the largest two-wheeler market in the world, and this presents a humungous opportunity for manufacturers of electric bikes and scooters.
According to a study published by McKinsey, the demand for electric two-wheel vehicles in India is expected to reach around 8.2 to 9.2 million units by 2030. "It is mainly driven by urbanisation and migration, favourable governmental policies, lowered prices, and increased consumer readiness for e-vehicles," the study said
After Ola launched its electric scooter on August 15, the heat is on other electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers to catch up on the race to roll out the much-needed EVs of the future. While companies such as Ather Energy and Bajaj Auto are also in the running for producing India’s fleet of EVs, the question arises if Ola’s move would spark a price war among EV makers in India? Only time will tell.
However, there are some challenges that India’s EV industry faces, such as:
Lack of charging infrastructure: India requires a widespread charging infrastructure to meet the growing adoption of EVs. In addition to more charging stations, the lack of space is also a challenge since people need a place to charge their EVs. Also, the lack of affordable renewable energy is putting pressure on the coal-powered electricity grid.
Range anxiety: Potential EV customers are apprehensive when it comes to the range that an EV offers. They want to ensure that the vehicle would get them to their destination before the battery runs out. This is closely linked to the lack of charging stations in the country. Therefore, there needs to be a stronger push for charging infrastructure and other solutions like battery swapping stations.
High price - There is no price parity between electric vehicles and ICE vehicles in India. Electric vehicles are way more expensive than their conventional fuel-powered counterparts. For example, the Tata Nexon price starts from ₹7.1 lakhs, while the Tata Nexon EV price starts from ₹14 lakhs. This huge price difference discourages many interested EV buyers to shy away from making the final decision to buy a BEV.
Scarce battery technology - The lithium-ion battery is the most popular and widely used energy source for EVs. India doesn't produce lithium. The country doesn't produce li-ion batteries either. India relies on imports for EV batteries resulting in the sky-high price for these important components and eventually the EVs as well.
However, with a massive opportunity in offer for EV manufacturers as India goes through a revolution in the auto industry, it will most likely witness a spree of technological and financial innovation in the near future and will be able to overcome these challenges as well.
Thank you for reading this edition of Sapience. Please share and subscribe if you liked the content and stay tuned for our next “Sapience”.
Follow us on-
Twitter - @mysapiences
Instagram- @sapience.io
Till next time, Ciao!
Future is EV, minds will change with technology. 👍 good.