Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Start with writing the significance and prospects of the use of the Electric vehicles(EVs).
• Discuss the challenges associated with the adoption of EVs.
• Discuss the ways to increase EVs penetration in the Indian market.
• Conclude suitably.

Answer

An EV operates on an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine and has a battery instead of a fuel tank. In general, EVs have low running costs as they have fewer moving parts and are also environmentally friendly.

In India, the fuel cost for an EV is approximately 80 paisa per kilometre. Contrast this with the cost of petrol which is today more than Rs 100 per litre in Indian cities, or Rs 7-8 per kilometre to operate a petrol-based vehicle.

Prospects in India

• The private sector has appreciated the inevitability of the dominance of the EV.
• Companies like Amazon, Swiggy, Zomato and Ikea are deploying EVs for deliveries.
• Car manufacturers like Mahindra are partnering with consumers like Ola, while Tata Motors is partnering with Blu Smart Mobility in moves that will ensure more EV delivery and ride-hailing services.

Associated Challenges

• Lack of Charging Infrastructure: The real challenge for the consumer is the lack of charging infrastructure in India.
  
  • EVs are typically powered by lithium-based batteries. These batteries need to be charged usually every 200-250 kilometres or so for a car. So, there is a need for a dense proliferation of charging points.
• Issue of Slow Charging: It takes up to 12 hours for a full charge of a vehicle at the owner’s home using a private light-duty slow charger. To compound this technological problem of slow charging at home, there are a few charging stations around the country.
  
  • This is woefully inadequate in a country as large and densely populated as ours.
• Lack of a Stable Policy For EV Production: EV production is a capital intensive sector requiring long term planning to break even and profit realization, uncertainty in government policies related to EV production discourages investment in the industry.
• Technological Challenges: India is technologically deficient in the production of electronics that form the backbone of the EV industry, such as batteries, semiconductors, controllers, etc.
• Lack of Associated Infrastructural Support: The lack of clarity over AC versus DC charging stations, grid stability and range anxiety (fear that batteries will soon run out of power) are other factors that hinder the growth of the EV industry.
• Lack of Availability of Materials For Domestic Production: Battery is single most important component of EVs. India does not have any known reserves of lithium and cobalt which are required for battery production. India is dependent on countries like Japan and China for the import of lithium-ion batteries.
• Lack of skilled workers: EVs have higher servicing costs and higher levels of skills is needed for servicing. India lacks dedicated training courses for such skill development.

Way Forward

• Increasing R&D in EVs: The Indian market needs encouragement for indigenous technologies that are suited for India from both strategic and economic standpoint.
  
  • Since investment in local research and development is necessary to bring prices down, it makes sense to leverage local universities and existing industrial hubs.
  • India should work with countries like the UK and synergise EV development.
• Sensitising Public: Breaking away the old norms and establishing a new consumer behaviour is always a challenge. Thus, a lot of sensitisation and education is needed, in order to bust several myths and promote EVs within the Indian market.
• Viable Electricity Pricing: Given current electricity prices, home charging may also be an issue if the generation is from thermal power plants run on coal.
  
  • Thus, a shift in the electricity generation landscape as a whole is what is required to facilitate the growth of electric cars.
  • A combination of solar-powered grid solutions that are organised with a general improvement in grid resilience will ensure adequate charging infrastructure for EV’s being a green option.
• Creating the Closed-Loop Mobility Ecosystem: Subsidizing manufacturing for an electric supplychain will certainly improve EV development in India.
  
  • Along with charging infrastructure, the establishment of a robust supply chain will also be needed.
  • Further, recycling stations for batteries will need to recover the metals from batteries used in electrification to create the closed-loop required for the shift to electric cars to be an environmentally-sound decision.
• The largest suppliers of lithium-based EV batteries are reported to be the Chinese and the South Korean companies.
  
  • India must plan for its place in this order — with better-charging infrastructure, battery-making factories and smart incentives for car companies and consumers to go electric.