Green Mobility: Time To Look Beyond Electric Cars With Long-Term Vision For EVS In India
Aditya, a young visionary campaigner of hard work and passion, has a degree in Business Administration, and showcases his fresh perspectives & new ideas to lead the public bicycle sharing venture of Hero Motors Company.
As the pandemic wreaked have across the world, it also contributed to a growing consciousness about the need for more sustainable lifestyles. As country after country imposed lockdowns, the planet experienced a drop in carbon emissions and gave us a glimpse of a world with clearer skies and breathable air. Evidently, this experience has given a significant push to the idea of sustainable growth and Green Mobility. A rethinking of urban mobility towards increasing usage of Walk, Cycle & Public Transport(WCPT) approaches an acceleration of e-Mobility goals that have been prominent trends to be witnessed in a post pandemic world. As bicycling turned mainstream in many countries following the pandemic, a number of cities from Berlin, Budapest to Mexico launched major infrastructural initiatives to relocate road space from cars to cycles. Bicycle as well as e-Cycle sales witnessed a significant jump in India as well with people turning to cycling for fitness purposes as well as short distance trips.
India has already launched a major push towards e-Mobility by pledging to progressively replace IC engine vehicles with EVs over a period of time. Even before the pandemic, India had set an ambitious target of achieving a significant transition towards e-Mobility by 2030. However, as Green Mobility becomes central to a postpandemic world, India needs a more sustainable and long term vision for Electric Vehicles. This vision must encompass a wider spectrum of e- Mobility tools including e-Cycles that can play a game-changing role in addressing the urban challenge of traffic congestion.
EV Policy In India: Is It Sufficient To Accelerate The E-Mobility Goal?
Over the past few years, the Indian government has put e-Mobility as a major priority agenda. Under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of EVs (FAME), the government has already announced two phases of its EV policy that focuses on subsidizing Electric Vehicles as a measure to boost their adoption. At the same time, at least 12 state governments have drafted their own EV policies to further accelerate the adoption of EVs. For example, under its dedicated EV promotion policy, the Delhi Government has envisaged that 25 percent of all new vehicle registrations that should be Electric Vehicles by 2024. It has also recently announced a `Switch Delhi' campaign to further boost the programme through the right messaging. While these policies have together created a conducive environment for the growth and faster adoption of Electric Vehicles in India, a number of challenges remain both on the manufacturing and adoption sides. Firstly, a lack of quick movement on the agenda of setting up a comprehensive charging infrastructure has been cited as a major bottleneck to widespread adoption.
A recent survey conducted by a car buying platform found that as many as 35 percent of people were willing to buy an e-Vehicle, but lack of infrastructure was a major reason preventing them from taking the leap. A study conducted by the Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF) suggests that to meet India's EV needs by 2030 we need a cumulative investment of Rs. 12.5crore in vehicle production and charging infrastructure. A comprehensive policy support is also needed to boost local manufacturing and localization of components & parts to make manufacturing more cost effective. A major challenge on the manufacturing front is the import dependence for lithium-ion batteries and the EV sector needs a strong as well as consistent policy support to develop local alternatives. At the same time, rationalization of GST on batteries, particularly on battery swapping, are concerns that the sector expects the government to address on priority. Lack of adequate policy support to Electric Cycles is another drawback of India's EV Policy. While the policy envisages an all electric future, a parallel focus also needs to be given to boost E Cycle adoption to pave way for more live able congestion free cities.
e-Cycles As A Central Element Of An All-Electric Future
While electric cars offer an emission free personal transport option, it does little to address the burning challenge in Indian cities such as traffic congestion. This is why replacing cars (IC engine) with cars (electric) is a flawed policy for a country like India. To comprehensively address our urban mobility issues, we also need to shift a substantial number of car users to environment-friendly two wheelers such as bicycles or e-Cycles. Extending the EV Policy focus beyond electric cars is a very crucial need of the time. Importantly, at a time when charging infrastructure remains inadequate, thus, consumers face the issue of range anxiety when it comes to using Electric Vehicles. The e-Cycles are a good environmental bet. They help to overcome the issue of range anxiety with the facility to turn to manual pedalling when needed.
We need the government to extend the subsidy benefits of FAME II to Electric cycles as well to make e-Cycles affordable to more consumers. The Government also needs to extend its Production Linked Incentive scheme under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat initiative to e-Bikes as well as their components to help make manufacturing more cost effective. A 20 percent production linked incentive for five years will not only help the Bicycle and e-Cycle segment plug technologi cal gaps, but also achieve economies of scale and competitive advantage. Similarly, extending of incentives under the Scheme for Promotion of electronic components and semiconductors to Electric bikes and components is another critically needed intervention.
As the pandemic wreaked have across the world, it also contributed to a growing consciousness about the need for more sustainable lifestyles. As country after country imposed lockdowns, the planet experienced a drop in carbon emissions and gave us a glimpse of a world with clearer skies and breathable air. Evidently, this experience has given a significant push to the idea of sustainable growth and Green Mobility. A rethinking of urban mobility towards increasing usage of Walk, Cycle & Public Transport(WCPT) approaches an acceleration of e-Mobility goals that have been prominent trends to be witnessed in a post pandemic world. As bicycling turned mainstream in many countries following the pandemic, a number of cities from Berlin, Budapest to Mexico launched major infrastructural initiatives to relocate road space from cars to cycles. Bicycle as well as e-Cycle sales witnessed a significant jump in India as well with people turning to cycling for fitness purposes as well as short distance trips.
While electric cars offer an emission-free personal transport option, it does little to address the burning challenge in Indian cities such as traffic congestion
India has already launched a major push towards e-Mobility by pledging to progressively replace IC engine vehicles with EVs over a period of time. Even before the pandemic, India had set an ambitious target of achieving a significant transition towards e-Mobility by 2030. However, as Green Mobility becomes central to a postpandemic world, India needs a more sustainable and long term vision for Electric Vehicles. This vision must encompass a wider spectrum of e- Mobility tools including e-Cycles that can play a game-changing role in addressing the urban challenge of traffic congestion.
EV Policy In India: Is It Sufficient To Accelerate The E-Mobility Goal?
Over the past few years, the Indian government has put e-Mobility as a major priority agenda. Under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of EVs (FAME), the government has already announced two phases of its EV policy that focuses on subsidizing Electric Vehicles as a measure to boost their adoption. At the same time, at least 12 state governments have drafted their own EV policies to further accelerate the adoption of EVs. For example, under its dedicated EV promotion policy, the Delhi Government has envisaged that 25 percent of all new vehicle registrations that should be Electric Vehicles by 2024. It has also recently announced a `Switch Delhi' campaign to further boost the programme through the right messaging. While these policies have together created a conducive environment for the growth and faster adoption of Electric Vehicles in India, a number of challenges remain both on the manufacturing and adoption sides. Firstly, a lack of quick movement on the agenda of setting up a comprehensive charging infrastructure has been cited as a major bottleneck to widespread adoption.
A recent survey conducted by a car buying platform found that as many as 35 percent of people were willing to buy an e-Vehicle, but lack of infrastructure was a major reason preventing them from taking the leap. A study conducted by the Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF) suggests that to meet India's EV needs by 2030 we need a cumulative investment of Rs. 12.5crore in vehicle production and charging infrastructure. A comprehensive policy support is also needed to boost local manufacturing and localization of components & parts to make manufacturing more cost effective. A major challenge on the manufacturing front is the import dependence for lithium-ion batteries and the EV sector needs a strong as well as consistent policy support to develop local alternatives. At the same time, rationalization of GST on batteries, particularly on battery swapping, are concerns that the sector expects the government to address on priority. Lack of adequate policy support to Electric Cycles is another drawback of India's EV Policy. While the policy envisages an all electric future, a parallel focus also needs to be given to boost E Cycle adoption to pave way for more live able congestion free cities.
e-Cycles As A Central Element Of An All-Electric Future
While electric cars offer an emission free personal transport option, it does little to address the burning challenge in Indian cities such as traffic congestion. This is why replacing cars (IC engine) with cars (electric) is a flawed policy for a country like India. To comprehensively address our urban mobility issues, we also need to shift a substantial number of car users to environment-friendly two wheelers such as bicycles or e-Cycles. Extending the EV Policy focus beyond electric cars is a very crucial need of the time. Importantly, at a time when charging infrastructure remains inadequate, thus, consumers face the issue of range anxiety when it comes to using Electric Vehicles. The e-Cycles are a good environmental bet. They help to overcome the issue of range anxiety with the facility to turn to manual pedalling when needed.
We need the government to extend the subsidy benefits of FAME II to Electric cycles as well to make e-Cycles affordable to more consumers. The Government also needs to extend its Production Linked Incentive scheme under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat initiative to e-Bikes as well as their components to help make manufacturing more cost effective. A 20 percent production linked incentive for five years will not only help the Bicycle and e-Cycle segment plug technologi cal gaps, but also achieve economies of scale and competitive advantage. Similarly, extending of incentives under the Scheme for Promotion of electronic components and semiconductors to Electric bikes and components is another critically needed intervention.
