Electric vehicles in India and the national electric mobility mission plan 2020

Abstract

In the new era of energy, environment and information, Electric Vehicles have become a paradigm shift in promoting global economic development, transport, and growth. Although a lot of clean technologies and fuels have been developed over the past years, Electric vehicles have shown the most promise. Electric vehicles have the edge over conventional gasoline vehicles in terms of cleaner technology, lower environmental emissions, higher energy efficiency, and reduced oil dependency. In spite of these advantages, there are a number of barriers to the rapid widespread adoption of electric cars, including the limitations of battery technology, purchase costs, and the lack of development of infrastructure. The automobile sector in India is in the phase of rapid growth and is becoming quite a significant competitor even on a global scale. However, this growth is coupled with several challenges from energy security, environmental degrading and dependency on oil imports. In order to overcome these challenges, there is a need to undertake a sustainable solution beyond existing measures and policies to mitigate the adverse effects of the growth in mobility. The solution is Electric Mobility! Electric vehicles though existing since the 1800s have not been significant until now. With the technological and battery advancements in the recent years, they are becoming cheaper and more attractive to consumers causing a paradigm shift in the transport market. Electric vehicles are environment-friendly, can save billions of dollars in oil imports increasing energy security and are a sustainable solution to a rapidly growing Indian economy. Furthermore, this new technology can lead to massive economic growth by creating new industries, a lot of jobs and develop related technology. It is vital to successfully introduce Electric Vehicle technology, develop the market and achieve mass penetration of electric vehicles in order to obtain these positive effects. Setting suitable targets along with developing appropriate strategies to achieve them, intensive consumer research on needs and behavior, and development initiatives must be promoted. Having recognized this and the with the growing demand in the transport sector, the Indian government in collaboration with all stakeholders from Industry to consumers is taking active steps to develop the domestic EV industry and emerge as a strong significant leader in global EV markets. The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020(NEMMP 2020) launched by the Prime Minister of India in January 2013 is the heart of Indian Dream to sustainable Electric mobility. It is the result of collaborative planning for the promotion of hybrid and electric mobility in India and achieving a total of 6-7 million electric/hybrid vehicles in India by the year 2020 through a combination of policies along with a certain level of indigenisation of technology ensuring India¿s global leadership in the automobile market. This report draws inspiration from this mission and attempts to understand the current EV landscape, market, technology and how the NEMMP 2020 will play a significant role in India.