One of my friends who works at Gachibowli, Hyderabad is now taking a bus abandoning his car due to the recent hike in petrol prices. It seems that there is quite a lot of demand for Petrol Alternate vehicles like EVs (Electric Vehicles) in India. But, do you know that India was able to sell barely 2000 Electric vehicles last year while the global sales of Passenger EVs surpassed 4 million last month? Do you know that India ’s first Electric car was produced in 2001 which is almost two decades from now?
Electric Vehicles in India
Electric vehicles and self-driving cars are the 21st century’s disrupting transportation technologies and yet the Indian market is not so close to these interferences. Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari hoped for a 15% share of Electric Vehicles in next five years at Indian Automobile Manufacturers Conference. While the aspirations of Indian government are high enough, there is no concrete evidence for steps taken to achieve the same. A report by Persistence Market Research estimated the growth rate of Electric vehicles to be 77% CAGR from 2017 to 2025. More details of the report here.
The Timeline of Initiatives and Electric Vehicle milestones in India
- REVA - one of the earliest Electric Cars designed and manufactured by REVA Electric Car Company (RECC). The first version was launched in 2001 and later, the revamped REVAi was launched in 2008. REVA (Revolutionary Electric Vehicle Alternative) was an outcome which took shape out of Chetan Maini’s dream of designing an affordable electric car for developing nations.
- National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 - Proposed in 2012 by the Government of India to facilitate the rapid growth of Electric Vehicles by 2020. Complete Plan here
- Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) - Under NEMMP, an incentive scheme to promote the early adoption of Electric vehicles was implemented by name FAME. Phase I of FAME was extended till September 2018. Complete incentives list here.
- New Electric Mobility Program launched on March 7, 2018, by R.K. Singh, Minister of State for Power and new & Renewable Energy - With an aim of 30% share of Electric Vehicles on road by 2030.
At present Companies like Mahindra Electric (formerly REVA), TATA, Okinawa, Twenty2, Ather Energy and Hero MotoCorp are producing few Electric vehicles.
Backed by Hero Moto Corp, the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world, Ather Energy is now a hot favourite in the line of Electric vehicles. Their two models of Electric scooters model 340 and 450 are now available for booking. As I have no first-hand experience of the vehicles, I am leaving a link to know more about the build quality, performance and testing. As Indian regular commute is dominated by two-wheelers, Ather Energy has got a chance to reshape the way we travel.
The Plan 2020 was nowhere around its goals. Hope the new Program will be more incentive and innovative enough to encourage EV manufacturing companies.
Civil Scholar is a Blog by Aravind Samala on Construction, Environment, Technology, Trends and Innovation.