Excerpt from thebetterindia.com
In India, the push towards greater adoption of e-mobility has largely come from governments through new policies and subsidies (for example, the FAME-II scheme).
During a virtual event organised by industry body FICCI in October 2021, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that the Union Government wants electric vehicle (EV) sales penetration for private cars to reach 30% by 2030. He further stated that if EV penetration reaches 40% in two and four-wheeler segments and nearly 100% for buses by 2030, India could cut its crude oil consumption by approximately 156 million tonnes worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore.
Similarly, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a Delhi-based non-profit, also claimed in their November 2020 report that if EVs made up 30% share of India’s new vehicle sales by 2030, the impact could be very significant.
It read, “With the reduction in oil demand from the passenger road transport sector, India will save on crude oil imports worth Rs 1,07,566 crore (USD 14.1 billion). Further, a 17% decrease in particulate matter and NOx emissions, 18% reduction in CO2 emissions, and 4% reduction in GHG emissions relative to BAU [business as usual] can be expected.”
The report also noted that such EV penetration could raise the market size of powertrain, battery and public chargers to over Rs 2 lakh crore, besides creating 1,20,000 new jobs in the sector. Although these are optimistic figures, they highlight the immense potential benefits that could be accrued to Indians if they transitioned from internal combustion engine vehicles to their electric counterparts.
In the past decade, the push for EVs has encouraged multiple startups and existing players in the automobile and renewable energy sector to deliver solutions for the e-mobility ecosystem, whether it’s to manufacture vehicles, assemble batteries or build charging stations, among other aspects.