First, some reality checks. For a country which has a low per-capita vehicle ownership and certainly the lowest among the Bric nations, India is soon going to overtake Japan as the world’s third largest consumer of oil and will only be marginally behind China in the next couple of years. Our humungous oil import bill is unsustainable. About 30 per cent of India’s energy needs are met by petroleum but nearly 82 per cent of this oil is imported (up from 37 per cent in 1990 and projected to reach 92 per cent by 2020).

Automobiles, after thermal plants, are the second biggest contributor to green-house gas emissions.

Oil-fired automobile engines are after all ‘mobile furnaces’ emitting green house gases and also constitute major health hazards in cities due to toxic emissions.

But then, the development process and national aspirations cannot be held back. We need innovative and viable solutions to turn challenges into opportunities. We need solutions which are not only environmentally sound, but are good for growth as well.

It calls for a fine balancing act. For meeting India’s future transportation challenges, e-vehicle is that kind of answer.

A visionary plan

In this context, there have been some very positive developments in the last few years, most important being the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP 2020), which sets out the road map for early adoption of green mobility platforms.

The government too has identified ‘E-Vehicle’ as one of the thrust areas for its ‘Make in India’ programme.

India has the vision to produce nearly 6-7 million electric vehicles units per year by 2020. Currently, we produce around 20 million vehicles a year, at a CAGR of nearly 20 per cent. As per the policy vision, a significant share of future vehicles would be facilitated to adopt green platforms.

The oncoming migration from fossil to renewable sources presents a huge business opportunity. India has the numbers and with right government support would enable us to emerge as a leading e-vehicle centre in the world.

Among e-vehicles, two-wheelers offer the most promising opportunity as they account for nearly 75 per cent of the total vehicles sold in India. Electric two-wheeler is also the only segment which is fully developed — and as experience has shown in countries such as China, Japan, Norway or France, the e-adoption has been fastest and easiest in this segment.

The road ahead

So how can government incentivise the industry and facilitate faster adoption? Sure, it did earmark ₹1,000 crore for NEMMP, but this is certainly not enough to translate its vision into reality.

If India wishes to emerge as one of the largest producers of EVs, the government needs to substantially up its financial pledge matching those announced by countries such as France, Japan and China.

For the record, China has earmarked close to $25 billion over the next three years for research, infrastructure and adoption facilitation plans.

India will need to inject at least ₹14,000 crore by 2020 to facilitate faster adoption and meeting the target envisaged in NEMMP. And apart from financial support, it also needs to intervene via legislation and regulatory guidelines.

The objectives of these interventions should be to spur demand and to substantially de-risk the much needed large private investments in this sector.

Together with photo-voltaic industry, electric vehicle sector can transform India’s green energy footprint and will also be a big boost to ‘Make in India’ vision.

The writer is the CEO of Hero Electric

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