During FY17-18, the Indian automobile industry witnessed overall vehicle production grow by 14.78 per cent to reach 29.07 million vehicles domestically, including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers. Nishant Arya informs the Indian auto industry is currently witnessing rapid adoption of EVs, shared mobility, Bharat Stage VI emission and safety norms. India is aptly placed to leapfrog the conventional mobility model and achieve a shared, electric and connected mobility future.

--------------------------------------

Nishant Arya is the Executive Director of JBM Group. Having undergone extensive industrial trainings in various European and Japanese organisations during 2008-2009, Arya has had multi fold exposure is diverse aspects of business and industry. With his innovative ideas and dynamic leadership traits he has pledged to transform JBM Group to newer heights. Nishant Arya represents the face of today’s young and dynamic corporate leaders who are actively contributing towards the Indian growth story. 

--------------------------------------

 

The global electric vehicle (EV) market is expanding rapidly and EVs are steadily catching the world’s imagination as a sure-fire means to tackle the ever-increasing challenge of air pollution. The automobile sector has historically been among the major sectors responsible for economic growth of the developed world. In India, too, it has come to be one of the most significant drivers of growth. During FY17-18, the Indian automobile industry witnessed overall vehicle production grow by 14.78 per cent to reach 29.07 million vehicles domestically, including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers. The passenger vehicle segment recorded an annual growth of 7.89 per cent, riding on a robust growth of 20.97 per cent in the demand of utility vehicles. However, factors like the production of vehicles on such a large scale, stubble burning, garbage disposal and burning, etc., along with the inadequate implementation of the pollution control norms has also further intensified the pollution concerns in India.

 

About four in 10 Indians are exposed to five times the safe limit of particulate matter, according to a study by NASA, the European Commission and UN. Pollutants have been one of the biggest contributors to the haze which shrouds the country’s capital in smog for several months every year. At least 140 million people in India are said to be breathing air 10 times or more over the WHO safe limits. Considering that India has 14 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities, it is critical for the country to adopt a strong EV-centric policy.

 

The Indian auto industry is currently witnessing rapid adoption of EVs, shared mobility and Bharat Stage VI emission and safety norms. India is aptly placed to leapfrog the conventional mobility model and achieve a shared, electric and connected mobility future by capitalising on the existing capabilities and building on foundational government programmes and policies.

 

The potential

Realising the potential of EVs, the government had unveiled the ‘National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020’ in 2013 under which it has issued a number of initiatives and programmes towards accelerating the adoption of EVs in India. The plan essentially aims to deploy around 7 million hybrid and all-EVs in the country by 2020. Towards this, in January 2017, the central government said it would bear up to 60 per centof the research and development (R&D) cost of developing an indigenous low-cost electric technology. In fact, as recently announced in their EV Draft Policy 2018, the Delhi government also plans to make Delhi 25 per cent electric vehicle city by 2023.

 

Pitched as the future of mobility, EVs are fitted with onboard batteries which can be charged by plugging into an electrical network. Take for instance, JBM Solaris’s 100 per centelectric bus ECO-LIFE, powered by fast-charging lithium-ion batteries, which can run 150-200 kms on a single charge.Being a zero-emission vehicle, each bus would save around 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission and 350,000 litres of diesel over 10 years of operation.  The product is completely customised to Indian needs, whether it is battery throughput or fast-charging technology. The batteries are chargeable through pantograph as well as plug-in charging system. The induction of buses like ECO-LIFE in the public transportation system could be a positive step in addressing the pollution question in the city. It will in turn, prove to be a quantum jump for how public transportation operates in India. According to a study by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), vehicular pollution is responsible for 25 per cent of the PM 2.5 levels, this means ECO-LIFE adoption would be a boon to the citizens across the country, both from the connectivity and heath parameters.

 

Furthermore, with governments across the world aggressively looking for ways to benefit from the ongoing EV revolution, the market opportunity in the space has grown tremendously over the years. A strong thrust from the local governments and corporates will result in the sector growing at an expected CAGR of 28.3 per cent, between 2017 and 2026. So far, the total number of electric cars has reached three million units globally. Around one million new electric cars were sold in 2017 alone, representing a growth of 54 per cent compared to 2016. The total number of electric buses increased to 370,000 units and electric two-wheelers reached 250 million by 2017 globally.

 

However, any new development in technology and its incorporation does not come without its challenges. For deployment of EVs on such a large scale, there are challenges in the form of higher capital cost for manufacturing and batteries being expensive. The cost of batteries is huge as currently, batteries are imported. For the total cost of ownership solution for customers, the lifecycle cost-benefit analysis by experts suggests that the break-even will be reached in five to six years and there onwards, all that will accrue to the customer as saving of operating costs. Even if one takes into account the maintenance cost in the overall cost of operations, electric is 70 per cent cheaper than a fossil

 fuel-run vehicle.

 

Ways to resolve

Clearly, a robust eco-system that supports the usage of EVs needs to be put in place along with a strong government policy on multiple components of EV, including infrastructure like setting up of charging stations. International experience has shown that the government has an important role in creating a market for EVs and shaping an industrial policy that encourages automakers to align their production with the targets set by the government. These charging points can be in the form of pantograph and plug-in charging. Especially, in India, the government can be the largest buyer of EVs which will lead to economies of scale for the industry. This will also lead to setting up charging stations across the country. But these challenges will soon become opportunities as the Indian market has already started gaining momentum in this direction. The automobile industry is making huge strides towards meeting the targets.

 

The rising number of government initiatives such as the recent draft EV policy are also factors that will propel an upward growth of the market. There is no doubt that EVs are the next revolution in the mobility market. At JBM, we strongly believe in a viable and robust business model and feel that it is important to integrate different business segments for sustainability and scalability; hence, we focus on both solar and waste to energy (WTE)/municipal solid waste (MSW) systems. At our solar plants, electrical energy is generated that can be used to charge EVs and various other applications. The concept of ‘Well-to-Wheel’ has emerged from this very need.  As an organisation, we are consciously working towards providing ‘Well to Wheel’ solutions, wherein, we have developed in-house, end to end capabilities in the e-mobility domain right from generation to consumption of green energy in powering EVs. 

 

A country, without a plan, will not succeed. A national policy takes into account the industry’s position, the needs of the population and challenges to come up with a roadmap that includes what the government can and will do to support the industry and public. The economics has to make sense even in the short term, and there has to be adequate charging infrastructure. But, with all big OEMs working towards this cause in tandem with the government, we should see signs of tremendous growth by 2020 itself.