Electric vehicles – Towards a clean energy economy

Rajbir Saha

(rajbirsaha1995@gmail.com)

In recent times, electric vehicles have gained immense popularity due to their environment-friendly characteristics. Their defining advantages are that they massively reduce carbon emissions. Electric vehicles are quieter, easier to use, and reduce the fuel cost which plagues conventional IC engine vehicles. They do not produce smog and air pollutants. Intelligent network integration through V2G (Vehicle to Grid) provides financial benefits to customers through two-way charging. Charging the battery of the vehicle involves integrating it with a renewable source of energy. The main challenges that hinder the adoption of electric vehicles are the high acquired costs due to batteries and fuel cells, limited range due to the speed of the vehicle and the capacity of the battery, long charging times depending on the type of battery and the charging setup, and lack of charging stations. Subsequent future developments are aimed at developing an improved battery life and charging infrastructure that will significantly reduce charging standby times, increase flexibility and reduce the use of permanent magnet motors which contain rare earth metals.

Other options include wirelessly enabled power transfer mechanisms and vehicles utilizing solar power, alongside parallel research into a compact, durable and inexpensive sensors and electronic devices. Already about 300 million conventional vehicles are growing at the rate of nearly 60,000 new registrations per day. Conventional gas stations across the country are 70,799, whereas just 221 for EVs. Recently, Tata Motors won a bid to supply 10,000 EVs which would replace government vehicles, along with 4,000 electric vehicle chargers. FAME (Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) was designed in 2015 to promote the production of environmentally-friendly electric vehicles. Some of the planned incentives on the roadmap are the provision of free charging points for electric vehicles, public charging stations, controlled power rates for charging vehicles and convenient battery replacement. A stable power supply for EV charging stations and providing alternative energy sources for EV charging infrastructure are important elements that will play a critical role in the growth of the EV industry, with the conversion of microgrids and renewable energy storage devices into proper EV charging infrastructure. Reducing CO2 emissions will also enable India to deliver on its commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement. India is aiming to increase the capacity of renewable energy sources to 185 GW by 2022 as part of building a green economy [6]. The Bangalore Municipal Transport Corporation recently introduced electric transport on a dense corridor in the city. A survey was carried out in Ludhiana city, which demonstrated that 36% of the existing car and two-wheeler owners were enthusiastic about shifting to the electric vehicle. Hyderabad metro rail was the first metro rail in the country to have EV charging stations to be monitored and operated by the power grid. In November 2018, the Delhi government released a draft policy that is aiming to convert 25% of their vehicles to EVs by offering various incentives and by setting up charging infrastructures in both residential and non-residential areas.

In Mumbai-Pune highway, a private firm named Magenta Power is also working to set up EV charging infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented damage to businesses, the global economy, and human lives. The economy bears the worst contraction so far in history and the ruckus it would bring was beyond the imagination. The automotive industry, in sync with the Indian economy, has already been a victim of the low demand, high cost of production, and idle capacity. According to the Industry body of The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the estimated production loss due to the 21 days lockdown period (first phase) is around INR 2300 crores. The Budget 2021 saw a mixed response from the EV industry. Even though there wasn't any direct benefit for the sector, there are certain indirect benefits the sector would enjoy. The voluntary scrape policy will boost the EV demand for electric vehicles. But the increased customs duty on certain auto components to boost domestic manufacturing will hurt the electric vehicle manufacturers as it will increase their cost in India [16]. The extension of tax holidays for startups for another year was cheered by the new-age companies and startups. The Finance Minister also declared the highest-ever capital expenditure of Rs. 1.08 for the Ministry of Roads. This would strengthen the infrastructure of the country which is a welcoming move [16]. Furthermore, the PLI schemes covering 13 sectors saw a commitment of Rs. 1.97 lakh crore, which is also cheered by the industry. However, the increase in customs duty on certain auto parts may lead to a higher cost of production. Similarly, a roadmap has been set by NITI Aayog's transformative mobility report of 2017 for the usage of pure electric vehicles following the development of EV technology and the necessity developed in the automobile sector to decrease the demand for energy. By NITI Aayog, Kerala is the fifth state after Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to encourage and implement e-mobility, as well as execute the e-portability desired by the policy. It has been forecasted that if India adopts a transformative solution of shared connected electric mobility,100% public transport vehicle and 40% private vehicles, then it can become all-electric by 2030.