Is India ready for a world where electric vehicles will dominate transportation?

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Context:

Industrialisation has closely followed our ability to move quickly between vast distances. With the dependence of humanity on fossil fuels, a new international power order also emerged — countries that exported oil.

• The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) comprises Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
• The dominant power or de facto leader of OPEC is Saudi Arabia, ruled by the House of Saud.
• In each of these countries. ruling oligarchies were enriched by the oil wealth that flowed in, while their people may not have quite benefitted.

Revolution of Electric vehicles

• To survive in the new world of EVs, grand old American car companies like General Motors and Ford are busy establishing factories that will make EV batteries.
• The largest suppliers of lithium-based EV batteries are reported to be the Chinese company — Contemporary Amperex Technology and the South Korean company LG.
• If this is so, then a new global order is emerging to replace OPEC.

What is an EV? 

• An EV operates on an electric motorinstead of an internal combustion engine and has a battery instead of a fuel tank.
• In general,EVs have low running costs as they have fewer moving parts and are also environmentally friendly.
• In India,the fuel cost for an EV is approximately 80 paisa per kilometre.
• Contrast this with the cost of petrol which is today Rs 107 per litre in Delhi, or Rs 7-8 per kilometre to operate a petrol-based vehicle.
• EVs are typicallypowered by lithium-based batteries.
  • These batteries need to be charged usually every 200-250 kilometres or so for a car. So, you need a dense proliferation of charging points.

India and electric vehicles

• India has the dubious distinction of having nine of the 10 most polluted cities in the world. These nine cities, all in north India, include Greater Noida, Noida, Lucknow, and Delhi.
• While many factors contribute to the polluted air, skies and human lungs of northern India, vehicular pollution bears substantial responsibility.
• The EV market in India is projected to reach $700 million in 2025, a dramatic jump from $71 million in 2017 — a 10-fold increase in under a decade.

Government initiatives:

• In 2013, the Government of India formulated theNational Electric Mobility Mission Plan that committed to ensuring that by 2030, at least 30 percent of vehicles on our streets would be electric. This deadline is unlikely to be met.
• The  Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme in 2019, commits to providing incentives in terms of subsidies and supporting technology to encourage the manufacturing and purchase of electric vehicles.
  • With a budget of around $1.5 billion, FAME provides a mixture of road and registration tax subsidies for EV purchasers.
• Private initiatives: Companies like Amazon, Swiggy, Zomato and Ikea are deploying EVs for deliveries. Car manufacturers like Mahindra are partnering with consumers like Ola, while Tata Motors is partnering with Blu Smart Mobility in moves that will ensure more EV delivery and ride-hailing services.

Challenges:

• Lack of charging infrastructure in India:It takes up to 12 hours for a full charge of a vehicle at the owner’s home using a private light-duty slow charger.
  • To compound this technological problem of slow charging at home, there are only 427 charging stations around the country.
  • This is woefully inadequate in a country as large and densely populated as ours.

One in which those who make and charge EVs will dominate the transportation world. India must plan for its place in this order — with better-charging infrastructure, battery-making factories and smart incentives for car companies and consumers to go electric. Most importantly, we must have an uninterrupted electricity supply. For, the next revolution in transportation is electric and it’s already underway.

The Indian Express Link:

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/electric-vehicles-india-benz-motors-7598047/

Question- The electric vehicle revolution in transportation is here, but India is ill prepared for it. Comment.