It's not like electric vehicles are new products in the Asian market, they are in the market from the starting era of electric vehicles. We have heard news of many brands trying to develop their own electric cars for years. Still, electric vehicles are not up to the mark to give us more range, power, and fast charging; while Tesla has shown the world how far electric vehicles can go and break boundaries metaphorically as well as literally.
A few years compared to what we are used to seeing, there are a lot of EVs on roads in India like in Delhi there are electric Rickshaws as public transportation for short distance commute. It's not fast and comfortable but, does a good work in covering a short distance quickly.
Mahindra has e2o in the market with a range of 120 km in full charge and at a top speed of 80 kph; it's not enough to substitute combustion engine which can produce lot more power, Tesla has cars with lot more power and approx 300 miles range. But Tesla has lots of fast charging stations in those countries, in India, it’s a different story.
Consumers who are going to use their vehicles just for city driving can still go for the EV as in city top speed is not what you can achieve and the range of minimum 100 km can do, as even in city like Mumbai you don’t have to cover a lot or drive fast, kudos the city traffic
But, for going long distance tour in an EV is not feasible. First, the charging time of EV is long. The fastest charging is of 1.5 hrs by Tesla but for others, it is much higher compared to the combustion engine in which you can refuel it in few mins. Second, the range of EV is less because of which you will have to take a stop more frequently. And, because of these 2 reasons, the traveling time increases by a great margin; it might double the traveling time. Third, the cost of the car compared to the size, style, dynamics, and power.
Let’s look at the present scenario of electric vehicles in our country
In 2013, India launched ‘National Electric Mobility Plan (NEMMP) 2020’, to address the need of electrifying the vehicles around the country for energy security, minimizing air pollution and encouraging domestic manufacturers to develop electric cars.
The Indian government has made plans to make a substantial change in electric vehicles by 2030 as per the Paris Agreement.
The Indian app-based taxi network Ola cabs are working on shifting regular cars to electric cars in coming years. Mahindra Electric Mobility Limited, formerly known as Reva Electric Car Company has already sold 4000 different units of compact electric cars worldwide. Their compact electric cars are now available in 26 countries most commonly known as REVAi electric car.
Some of the popular fully electric cars in India are:
Mahindra e2o plus
Tata Tigor electric
Mahindra e-KUV 100
Toyota Prius, Honda Accord, Maruti Ciaz are examples of good hybrid cars.
Many brands are already working on fully electric two-wheelers, and, are ready to launch it nationally. Heroelectric, a unit of Hero Motocorp is one among them.
From 2014, electric buses have been seen in India’s IT Hub Bangaluru; the latest being Goldstone Infrastructures' 25 electric buses delivered to Himachal Pradesh Transportation Corporation in Sept 2017 and Tata’s 25 Starbus electric hybrid buses to Maharastra.
The Role Played by Indian Government
The government has already started the plans to motivate electric and hybrid car productions and released tenders to help increase charging fractures in the country. Last year Karnataka government approved Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy 217.
The Central Government started the scheme called Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME), which provides incentives for purchasing electric and hybrid cars. For scooters/motorcycles, the incentives will be ranging from Rs. 1800 to Rs. 29000 and, Rs. 1.38 Lacs for cars.
Around the World
When we look around the world, the biggest producers of electric cars are China, followed by European countries combined, North America and Japan. Sadly, India comes under the others category which is less than 10%.
China is kicking off many plans and incentives for electric car producers to reduce the current air pollution problem as well as to achieve its self-sustaining status goal by lessening the oil imports. While the U.S.A and European countries are mostly worried about pollution and the environment’s health. Most countries started this as a part of Paris Agreement and will be increasing their production slowly.
The basic problems that India is facing now are;
- The lack of proper infrastructure as currently, the charging stations are not available at a minimum distance.
- Plus fast charging is required for the citizens to become encouraged to buy electric cars. If 2030 is the target we should go to rural areas and highways too for developing charging points.
- The final blockade is the price of an electric vehicle. Though there are incentives by government to both the buyer and manufacturer, the prices remains to be high and unaffordable to everyone.
Conclusion
Currently, India is not ready for EV as minimum requirements are not fulfilled, except for the city and for just city driving. It might work out for whole India by 2030 but for that, the government needs to work really hard to get all the minimum infrastructure ready with proper functionality and at all locations, both rural and urban. Indian citizens are still not much aware of EV and don't trust EV so there need to be some initiatives to let the people know the benefits of EV and government should give some incentives for those who are buying electric vehicles, much more than what’s been given now, or to decrease the taxes on the production of EVs.
At the current pace, it’s difficult to see an all EV on Indian roads, but if everyone gets along and supports the government and vice versa, it can be done.
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