Greentech Lead India: In India, electric vehicles may not
be a reality soon. Though Mahindra announced its plans to launch five new
electric vehicles in India in the next four years, other car manufacturers are
not keen to enter this segment very soon.
Currently Mahindra Reva is the only electric-focused car
in India.
Lack of supporting infrastructure like charging stations
is a major hurdle to electric vehicle implementation. The short charging cycles
and slower speed of electric vehicles are forcing several car makers to rethink
the plans to launch electric vehicles in India. Many car manufacturers have
either shelved or postponed their plans to launch electric vehicles. Honda
Civic Hybrid, for example, was launched in mid-2008 in India, and was
discontinued later.
Another reason for the lack of enthusiasm in electric
vehicles industry is the price. Electric vehicles are costlier, and Indian
market is not favorable for a Rs.22- lakh price tag for a model like Honda
Civic. When the market did not respond, Honda announced a discount of Rs. 8
lakhs and the entire stock was sold within a few days after the announcement.
Chevrolet also announced their entry to the Indian market
with the launch of Beat electric car at the Auto Expo earlier this year;
however the company has not yet announced a commercial launch. Other manufacturers
like Tata Motors too have announced their plans, but no official commitment is
made yet.
According to Srikanth Chandrasekaran, senior regional
program manager- Standards, IEEE, electric vehicles in India will evolve in
different phases. A lot of things need to be done in the segment before we
commercialize electric vehicles.
Standards development is an integral part of the
evolution of electric vehicles in India. The main challenge associated with
standards development in electric vehicles in India is lack of user case.
“Unless we have a user case, we cannot understand the requirements of the
industry,” says Chandrasekaran. “In India power standards are different
and power quality is different. Issues related to availability of power needs
to be addressed.”
“In Europe, the electric vehicle may be a reality in the
next 2-3 years, but in India, it won’t. Unless you address the power and
connectivity issues, EV implementation will not happen in India. India EV
deployment will evolve in different phases,” Chandrasekaran told Greentech
Lead.
India commits to electric vehicles, approves $4.1 billion
investment
However, a recent initiative from the government gives a
hope to electric vehicle manufacturers.
The government of India declared it will invest $4.13
billion to encourage the production and use of electric and hybrid vehicles in
the country for the next 8 years. With this investment the government is
planning to introduce 6 million vehicles on the road by the year 2020.
The investment was approved by Indian Central ministers,
at the National Electric Mobility 2020 meeting.
However, most of the green vehicles the country targets
by 2020 will be two wheelers. According to official sources, around 130 to 140
billion rupees of the total investment in the plan will be paid by the
government, and the rest will be provided by private companies.
Globally electric
vehicle sales will grow to 130 million units annually by 2025, according to
Global Information Inc. Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) are one of the largest
and fastest growing electric vehicle markets, the report said.
editor@greentechlead.com