Towards 100% Electric Vehicle Nation: Key Issues

National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) aims to achieve the fuel security and reduce the air pollution level in the country by promoting electric and hybrid vehicles in the country. This article discusses the major hindrances for India to become 100% electric-vehicle nation by 2030 and various steps taken so far to boost electric mobility.

Why there is need for Electric Mobility?

There are two major reasons. First, fuel based transportation is second largest source of carbon dioxide emission. Use of electric vehicles can help India to achieve its promise of reducing the carbon emissions intensity by 33-35% of its GDP, by 2030. Second, though buying cost is higher for electric vehicles, yet running cost is lower than diesel and petrol vehicles. Therefore, it can have a great impact on transportation sector and can help the logistics industry to expand beyond the horizons.

What are the major barriers in adoption of electric mobility?

Government initially announced the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan in 2013 to facilitate a great energy transition in the country. To boost this initiative, in 2015, the central government launched a scheme called Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME India) under which it offered incentives for clean fuel technology vehicles aiming to push the sales to up to 7 million vehicles by 2020. But the sales numbers have not been picking up to help centre reach its target. There are several barriers impeding the government’s ambitious plan of 100% electric vehicles by 2030.

• Firstly, the upfront cost of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) is very high, ranging between INR 28 Lakhs to 40 Lakhs. Also, for the pure electric vehicles, the battery cost alone can range between INR 6 lakhs to 10 lakhs which is equivalent to the cost of new fuel efficient ICE car available in India.
• Secondly, the ultimate goal behind widespread shift to electric vehicles is to cut the GHG emissions and maximize renewable energy adoption. And introducing large number of electric vehicles in the Indian market will surge huge demand for power for charging of electric vehicles. But in India, thermal power plants (biggest greenhouse gas emitter) constitute 65-68% of electricity generation, and there is very low share of renewable energy. Under such situation, a sudden surge in electricity demand for electric vehicles could potentially provoke greater carbon dioxide emissions.
• Thirdly, there is a lack of charging stations and electric vehicle maintenance centre in India. As of now there are only 200-210 community charging stations across India. This can prove an impediment in India’s aim to electrify all vehicles by 2032.

Government Steps Towards National Electric Mobility Mission

The major steps taken by the government are as follows:

• Government announced to lower the taxes and interest rates on loans for electric vehicles, while capping sales of conventional internal combustion (IC) vehicles.
• Government proposed to limit registration of conventional IC vehicles for both public as well as private use.
• Centre has recently notified the constitution of the National Board of Electric Mobility (NBEM). The Board will be chaired by the Secretary, the Department of Heavy Industry, and members will include senior bureaucrats, and experts from automobile industry as nominated by the government. The nominated members will have tenure of two years or until further government order, whichever is earlier. The main role of NBEM is to examine, recommend, formulate and propose short as well as long-term plans and contours of the mission programme on electric mobility.
• Government is trying hard to shift to renewable grid electricity through solar/wind energy and improve the grid performance for charging electric vehicles. Government is also planning to set up battery swapping stations and increase the number of charging stations, maintenance centres with the help of private sector, and increasing subsidies on all battery electric vehicles to bring them to cost parity with conventional IC vehicles. Beside all these government is also in process of formulating schemes, which will allow citizens to purchase EVs on zero down payments.

Conclusion

Though the current government is striving hard towards promoting the full scale electric mobility solutions for India, and have taken highly appreciative initiatives, yet, there has been slow progress in adopting electric vehicles policy so far. Thus, with almost 3 crore diesels and petrol based motor vehicles running on Indian roads, electrifying all vehicles in the country by 2032 looks a distant dream.