EV Policy in India
India incurs huge cost in import of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels
are one of the reason for very high pollution in Indian cities. World over,
many countries has been successful in making EV’s as trusted reliable choice of
transport by people. The National Electric Mobility
Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 planned to establish EV’s through policies,
incentives in India. The FAME I which ended in 2019 and FAME II which ends in
march 2022 are initiatives in EV policy in India. FAME stands for faster adoption
of manufacture of electric vehicles (and hybrid).
The FAME I intended to create
demand, technology platform, charging infrastructure, pilot projects. The industry
players in the nascent stage were hesitant to invest in the EV’s due to
uncertain demand and huge capex they have to make.
FAME II gives demand side
incentives and hopes to create charging infrastructure. The charging
infrastructure will need change in building plan approval eg: plan approval
only if multi-storied buildings have charging facilities, tariff determination,
resolving taxing issues etc.
India has seen faster adoption
and private investments in the two wheeler and three wheeler segment. The companies
like ather energy, ola, hero etc has been successful in generating an interest
in EV’s in the two wheeler category.
The issuing and subjects in EV
where lot of discussion are going around :
1.
Standardization of charging ports, technology
etc. The charging ports of most companies are different from other in both
design and voltages, unless there is consensus on the design & capacities
of the charging, the investing in charging ports may not be viable.
2.
Concepts like battery swapping have been
discussed, but the customer willingness is doubtful.
3.
Incentives for EV – the customer getting a tax break
or reduction in registration fee etc would drive the demand.
4.
The EV growth in India tend to start with lower
capacity vehicle and then the higher capacity vehicle demand would start.
5.
Battery cost and availability of raw material for
batteries are a major factor at macro level, which will determine the growth of
EV. The new vehicle scrappage policy is expected to increase the demand for EV's provided the customer is able to get EV's are right pricing.
