Electric Mobility in India: Revolution of Automotive Sector
The global Automobile revolution moving towards Electric Vehicles (EVs) is profoundly triggering India to call out a ecosytem for newer greener innovations. Today, we have number of EV companies, from among, few are startups and few have already made their mark in the EV industry. Electric mobility in India is today the bee’s knees. Unlike other sectors which are likely facing stern strategic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, the electric mobility in India seems to be removing the cover from its garages. Responding to the situation, the startups have launched range of electric cars, bikes and bicycles in last few months.
According to a report, electric cars are going to be the future of India. In terms of business, electric mobility in India will see huge growth in coming time. Several automakers have already made massive investments in electric mobility sector.
According to a data by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) 2,36,802, electric vehicles were sold in FY2020-21, out of which 88,378 units were electric three-wheelers. However, in the cargo space, brands like Mahindra Logistics, DHL, Amazon, and Flipkart, among others, have already made substantial investments to convert their cargo fleet to electric in the coming years.
Government Role
To improve electric mobility condition in the country, Indian government has announced its plan in February 2021 to support 15.62 lakh electric vehicles through subsidies. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), shared that the phase-II of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme is being implemented with total budgetary support of ₹ 10,000 crore. With this, the government plans to support about 62,000 electric passenger cars and buses, and 15 lakh electric three- and two-wheelers in India.
Government’s enthusiastic step one can understand by seeing the decision of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who announced the ‘Switch Delhi’ campaign and requested Delhiites to use only electric vehicles for reducing the pollution in the city.
The Indian government has announced a plan to set up 2,636 EV charging stations in 62 cities across 24 states and UTs by 2023. In fact, our central government has also told builders to set aside 20 per cent of parking space for EVs in all residential and office projects. The steps towards electric mobility in India are showing quite impressive results, but due to COVID-19 pandemic the situation is on hold.
A report has been unveiled which says that NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation Limited) has installed 140 Public Charging Stations, EESL has installed 141 Public Charging Stations, and that PGCIL has installed 14 EV Charging Stations across India, so far.
There is no doubt that electric vehicles are totally a new concept for the automotive industry and electric mobility in India is totally a booming sector, nowadays. There are numbers of brands that has made electric cars, such as Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus Electric or Tesla Model S, Chevrolet Volt. Few start-ups are also working in the same direction.
Here we have enlisted top companies, which are going to launch its electric vehicles in India;
Tesla Model 3:
Elon Musk’s Tesla is quite ready to come up with its first electric car in India. The model is known as ‘S’ and the EV makers has full-fledged plan to open office in Mumbai and production work will be done in Karnataka. The Tesla Model 3 will come to India as a completely built unit (CBU) model. Electric mobility in India will definitely achieve its strength by getting such EV cars.
Volvo XC40 Recharge
Electric mobility in India will receive one more branded luxury EV with Volvo. The Volvo Car’s XC40 Recharge electric SUV will be the first all-electric offering from a Chinese-owned Swedish carmaker. The Volvo XC40 Recharge will come to India as a completely built unit (CBU) model.
Audi e-Tron
Audi India has confirmed the arrival of the e-Tron alongside the e-Tron Sportback in the country this year. It will be the German carmaker’s first all-electric offering in India. The electric SUV was previously slated to go on sale last year, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But, now very soon we will be seeing new achievements in electric mobility in India.
Not only these, but few more companies are planning to launch its electric vehicles in India including Etrio which is set to go B2C by extending dealership network for its three-wheelers range. These kinds of initiatives seems to enchant electric mobility in India.
Global condition in electric mobility sector
According to International Energy Agency (IEA), the registration of EV across the globe expanded massively in 2020 and it will grow in coming years also.
The report also revealed, the total number of electric cars, buses, vans and trucks is projected to rise to 145 million, or 7% of road transportation, by the end of the decade under governments’ existing energy and climate policies.
With even bolder climate programmes and emission reduction targets, there could be up to 230 million electric vehicles on our streets – 12% of all road transport – by 2030. Motorcycles and mopeds were not included in the figures.
Some European countries increased buying incentives and incorporated the promotion of EVs into their post-pandemic economic recovery plans. China postponed the end of its New Energy Vehicle (NEV) subsidy scheme to 2022, to safeguard EV sales from the economic downturn, revealed the report.
Future of Electric mobility in India
Electric mobility in India is going to be a huge market very soon. The condition of India’s pollution has crossed the record of all over the world, for improving this situation the electric mobility in India will make the biggest change. With e-commerce including grocery and food delivery services on the rise, there are certain last-mile delivery companies that operate completely on EV fleets. So, we are expecting to see bright future of electric mobility in India.