Automobile industry is witnessing huge changes across the segments. Things are changing very fast. The big question in every stakeholder’s mind is – EV – When and How? Lots of research, workshops, and conferences are happening around the world on this. One thing is certain that Automobile industry will shift to EV sooner or later. Maybe next year onwards, we will see some increase in EV nos, till 2025, it will be slow but the phase will change the gear after 2025 and by 2030, we see around 50% market share of Electric Vehicle in India.
Following factors will help EV market to grow:
Increasing ownership cost as well as running and maintenance of IC Engine vehicle: Cost of IC vehicles is continuously increasing and after BS VI implementation, it will increase further by 10%. This will bridge the gap between IC engine vehicles and EV.
Advance technology to enhance battery efficiency and fast charging: 360 degree research and study is going on to improve battery efficiency. Soon we will have batteries which will give a running range of 100 to 150 kms in 2 Wand 800 to 1000 kms in cars.
Increasing scale of production will reduce the cost of EV: At present, EV share is less than 1%. This is expected to go up to 15% by 2025. At that scale, production cost will drastically reduce and EV will be much cheaper. With extremely less running cost and almost zero maintenance cost, EV will become more popular.
Environment benefit and forex balancing: Government will promote / incentivize EV because these vehicles are non-polluted vehicles. Also the government is not able to maintain its Import – Export ratio and Forex balance only because of the huge import of gasoline. To balance this it’s necessary to reduce import of oil and EV can make it possible.
Improving charging and swapping infrastructure: One of the prime requirements for EV is having proper charging infrastructure. Government is taking good initiative. Many projects are also lined up under the PPP model and all this will enhance charging infrastructure facilities in the country. Battery swapping projects are also under consideration.
Having said all these, there are a lot of challenges in EV. However, considering its benefits and need of the time, EV is further of mobility.
Automotive manufacturing has historically been the torchbearer of various developed as well as developing economies of the world, including India. Hence, the Indian government has been consistently upshifting its efforts at switching to all-electric vehicles by 2030. The recently announced policy reforms like FAME II, Phased Manufacturing Programme, incentives to corporates as well as individuals for adoption of e-vehicles, etc. are some of the measures that have been taken to ensure faster deployment of e-vehicles in India.
Provisioning a 360-degree e-mobility infrastructure solution holds the key as the ecosystem conducive to smooth running of evehicles is being currently worked on in India. At JBM, we have curated the ‘Well-to-Wheel’ concept that aids towards building this ecosystem as an end to end solution. We manufacture 100% Electric buses in India and to support the running of these buses, we provide EV charging stations as well. Our renewable energy division caters to setting up solar power plants for generation of green energy that is, in turn, supplied to the EV chargers. In a nutshell, we have entire range of in-house solutions right from green energy generation to energy consumption. India is well poised to become a key player in the EV space considering the size of our market. We have already deployed our EV solutions across various locations in India, starting with Navi Mumbai where JBM has supplied 30 ECO-LIFE 100% electric buses.
But, India will have to practice caution. India’s ‘one size fits all’ approach may not work in the case of EVs. Products and solutions in the EV domain have to be consciously customized to suit the demands and usage patterns across various geographies or our country. I believe that the public transportation segment in India is best suited to embrace EVs at a much faster pace. Also, the 2 wheeler segment looks promising in this arena. We look forward to consistent government support in building the required ecosystem that supports electric vehicles pan India. There are a few challenges that the Indian EV industry is facing, the high cost of the vehicles, primarily due to battery costs, lack of apt charging infrastructure, etc. India being a price-conscious market, the shift towards electric mobility will gain momentum only if the total cost of ownership comes down, that is when India will witness mass adoption of EVs.
While the future of EVs looks quite promising for all electric bikes, electric cars, and e-rickshaws plying on Indian roads with government’s aims to make India a 100% electric vehicle nation by 2030, however there are certain hindrances and challenges that we need to overcome.
The price of EVs is still very high and one major reason is that the sector needs to import few major components. Also the sector is solely dependent on China for battery even though it can find other alternatives like Bolivia, Australia and Chile. Furthermore, the EV sector is reliant on components especially semiconductors which is not manufactured in India hence they have to import the same and since these semi- conductors are not manufactured locally the sector cannot boost its manufacturing capacity.
Moreover in the current scenario there is a need for high performing EVs. For this electric vehicle manufacturers need to pump in more investments to develop superior, efficient and affordable electric two wheeler and three wheeler vehicles. This will boost demand and is likely to fuel growth in the coming years. So affordability coupled with performance will augment their adoption and acceptance across the country. In addition companies manufacturing EV batteries in India need to come up with more advanced and cost effective technologies. This will further increase the demand and accelerate acceptance of these vehicles.
Also it is difficult to find skilled labour force who have the knowhow of this sector. The EV sector needs to bridge this knowledge lag. Hence re-skilling of the labour force is very important in the current scenario. Overcoming these obstacles is integral to bolstering the growth of the country’s EV industry and will also help in drastically reducing carbon emission and air pollution levels.
