EVs are the new calling of 2018 | Car Dealer Tracker: Car Dealers Review & Rating site | Share your Experiences here

EVs are the new calling of 2018

The World is caught up in the EV wave with China, UK, France and others are shunning ICE-based vehicles in favour of EVs. This shift though slow, is steadily picking up over the last few years and will definitely India in the coming years, moreover as the Government has announced that by 2030 EVs will be the only vehicles on Indian roads.

This EV thrust and renewable energy like solar, with improved technology and viable pricing will help India bring down its fuel import bill, which is expected to double till 2030.

The year 2017 will be remembered as a significant one for defining India’s mobility architecture. India has seized its moment in the sun to announce big plans for finding next generation transportation solutions. But nothing has caught the imagination of the industry and policy makers quite like the government’s ambitious plans for a mass scale shift to electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030 so that all vehicles on Indian roads by then—personal and commercial—will be powered by electricity. While the transformative push for electric vehicles has become a cause célèbre for India and the world, it presents challenges along with opportunities.

With Volvo’s July announcement that it would phase out the internal combustion engine and manufacture only electric or hybrid vehicles by 2019, many believe India’s EV moment has arrived. It won’t be long before major automakers in India follow Sweden-based Volvo’s lead in phasing out internal combustion engines and electrifying their line-ups to meet the 2030 deadline.

Electric vehicles are also expected to help generate fresh demand for electricity —the lack of which is weighing down the entire power sector—and also help in resolving the stressed assets conundrum.

Niti Aayog has recommended offering fiscal incentives to EV manufacturers and discouraging privately-owned petrol- and diesel-fuelled vehicles. These are potentially far-reaching moves for India’s mobility, energy and environment needs and could spell the end of the internal combustion engine as we know it.

Another related emerging technology is of electric vehicles that can also double up as a storage device. Suitable application of time-of-the-day tariff mechanisms will be applied to encourage EVs to store-up renewable energy when it is available in excess of demand,” according to India’s draft national energy policy.

The advent of EVs will have helped curb a rise in share of oil and environment friendly gas would substitute oil in many uses. Sending a clear signal that India is firmly moving towards electric vehicles, the goods and services tax (GST) Council has set a tax rate of 12% for electric vehicles, compared with 28% plus cess for petrol and diesel cars and hybrid vehicles.

The Indian auto industry was also warned by the government in September to switch to production of vehicles running on non-polluting alternative fuels or risk being overtaken by inevitable policy change.

An effective charging infrastructure is required which takes care of ‘range anxiety,’ and the necessary regulations around creating the ecosystem for electrical vehicles to operate smoothly.

Another issue is whether to go for AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current) chargers. While an AC charger takes around six hours to charge an EV, DC chargers are faster and take around 40 minutes to one hour to fully charge a vehicle.

The Indian EV industry maintains that a lot needs to be done to achieve the 2030 target. Integration is not happening. Cohesion is not there. We quickly need to get our act together from the macro point of view.