Is India Ready for an EV Revolution?

15th July 2019

Dear Reader,

Welcome to this week’s edition of Digital Republic. Arguably one of the primary policy focus areas of the Government in recent times has been the push towards widespread, rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EV) in the country. Malyaban Ghosh provides an excellent overview of the current EV policies in the Budget and explains the government’s motivations — to reduce our dependence on imported oil and help curb rampant pollution. Although the timing and goal are both opportune and crucial, is India ready for a smooth paradigm shift towards EVs? G. Ananthakrishnan explores this question with Ashok Jhunjhunwala, professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, and Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO, Ather Energy.

The push towards EVs has been in play for a few years now with the introduction of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India scheme (FAME phase II), the proposal to ban all internal combustion engine two-wheelers under 150cc by 2025 and three-wheelers by 2023 and more recently, the focus on EVs in the Union Budget 2019. Ghosh also investigates how far India has come along compared to global economies like China, Japan and the EU that have implemented similar policies.

The big question though is whether the Indian market-ready is ready for EVs? Although the long term goal of EV adoption is pretty much universally accepted, traditional automobile manufacturers and new-age startups are locking horns over the short term impact. Olin Banerji discusses this stand-off (behind a paywall), Satish John dissects the opposition towards the accelerated timeline for EVs from the perspective of existing manufacturers, mainly TVS and Bajaj. In an interview, Rajiv Bajaj gives his reasons as to why such significant initiatives cannot be implemented overnight and requires a pragmatic approach towards increasing consumer demand. The way things are going, the government is unlikely to reconsider its plan to ban traditional combustion-engine two and three-wheelers in the coming years. One thing is for certain if EVs are to work in India, the government and industries have to work in tandem. Let’s hope they do. (*fingers crossed*)

Apart from replacing internal combustion engine vehicles with EVs, there is still a lot yet to be done to achieve the proposed timeline. Charging stations will prove to be the key infrastructure required to boost EV demand and supply. Swaraj Baggonkar describes the challenges behind creating an effective charging infrastructure and lists down the companies that have taken it upon themselves to construct such stations. Kuwar Singh reasons that more needs to be done to incentivize local demand and supply. Finally, Dharmesh Shah moves beyond markets to view the push for EVs from an environmentalist lens. Owing to a lack of organizations dedicated to the recycling of Lithium-ion batteries, he asserts that EVs, in its current form, could potentially worsen India’s pollution crisis.

India has a unique opportunity to mould itself as a global leader in environmentally sustainable transportation, if the right set of policies, market opportunities, and industry priorities align.

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