Government plans new policy to push EVs in India

The Government of India is reportedly working on a major policy push that is aimed at accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles in the Indian automotive market. Through this initiative, the government is targeting to switch most of its vehicles to battery power by 2030.

In order to achieve this aim, steps will be taken to reduce the initial cost of buying an electric vehicle, which is significantly higher than corresponding conventional vehicles. However, the government isn't considering to offer higher subsidies to cut EV prices, similar to what is being adopted in many other countries across the world, including major EV markets like China, US and Europe. Instead, it is working on a battery leasing strategy, under which, the owners won't need to pay for the battery pack while buying an electric vehicle. This will eliminate a major part of the vehicle's initial cost, thus bringing down EV prices.

As part of the plan, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and non-air-conditioned buses that run on electric power will be sold without any batteries. Since the battery pack amounts to a major part of an EV's price, this move is expected to cut down prices of the said vehicles by up to 70%. The batteries will be leased to owners at specified costs.

Additionally, these batteries can be swiftly swapped at stations. As a result, if an EV bus runs out of juice in its batteries, it can come to a station and swap its battery pack for a fully powered unit. This will eliminate the biggest drawback of electric vehicles - lower travel range.

The said plan is currently in the final stages of drafting and a formal policy is expected to be notified in the next six months. The ministries of road transport, power, petroleum and heavy industries are giving their inputs to help draft a practical and feasible policy. The government is expecting to scale up this program in the next three years, with private cars likely to be included in the last phase.

Source: ET