The Scope Of Electric Vehicle Adoption In India
Electric Vehicle Industry is rapidly changing every year. However, India lags in EV penetration compared with other big markets. But there is a considerable possibility of manufacturing many EV models. India has the potential to develop some EV favorable conditions like charging infrastructure, vendor ecosystem, and financial incentives that can encourage electric vehicle adoption by the country. The Indian government has cleared its intention to speed up the process of electric vehicle transitions in the last few years.
About 20 states of India already have their electric vehicle plans. The plans of some states are progressing. The rest have ready to be implemented. The primary goal of electric vehicle adoption in India is to accelerate the country’s transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. There may be some differences among the state policies, but each has a few common objectives.
For example, they have issues related to air quality, climate change, oil imports, and how to increase the number of EV manufacturers in India. Job creation, use of two or three-wheelers, and public transportation are the topmost priority of every state’s EV policies. Perhaps there is not a prepared plan to do so. It is well-known that India’s travel habits, consumption patterns, and modal splits broadly differ from developed countries. In such a situation, setting up an electric vehicle charging station is one of the biggest challenges for the arrival of electric cars in India.
Barriers to Electric Vehicle Adoption in India
Revolt RV 400 in 2019 was the first launch in the Indian commercial vehicle market. The next was Nexon EV by the Tata group. The people in need highly prefer both these products. After that, many new EV startups like Hero Electric, Ola, Ather, Pure EV, etc., came into the market, giving new dimensions to the EV market in India. However, according to records, only 1.8 percent of the population in India accepted electric vehicles during 2020-2021 (the data for 2021-22 is yet to be released), which is incredibly low. Let’s go through the entire frames one by one ad find out the reason behind these low figures.
Cost
When you are willing to buy an electric car, the cost is a primary factor. Besides the number of specific vehicles on which the government offers some exemptions and allowances, buying EVs can be costly. The Li-ion battery used in electric cars hardly lasts for 7-8 years. The Li-ion battery used in electric vehicles hardly lasts for 7-8 years. Hence, the cost is one of India’s topmost barriers to electric vehicle adoption.
Version
Buying the beta version from the first batch of EVs can put you at risk or offer you a bad experience since the EV technology, and EV manufacturers in India are both inexperienced in dealing with their potential customer’s demands. Older EVs like RV 400, Nexon, and EPluto 7G have updated their vehicle at multiple levels in terms of the hardware, software, and policies based on consumers’ demand.
Poor Charging Infrastructure
It can be one of the biggest nightmares for the people seeking electric vehicle adoption in India. A poor EV charging infrastructure includes two factors. The first one is the absence of a complete charging setup, like missing a robust MCB wire or earthing at their nearby area. Second is the lack of required electric vehicle charging stations. Despite the mad ranges like 150, 180, and 200 offered by several companies, in the case of small cases, a slight change in driving condition can highly affect your EV range.
Lack of Standardization
It is one of the significant issues becoming the most crucial obstacle to mass electric vehicle adoption by the country. Every company has different charging ports in their vehicles. It damages the charging ecosystem. The lack of universal charging ports makes it impossible to charge identical electrical vehicles at the same charging station. The customer is forced to visit the particular company’s charging station, doesn’t matter how far it is.
Some other barriers are environmental issues, increased electricity demand at the national level, temperature-related problems, and the lack of skills and awareness. Also, problems servicing the EVs dominate its growth and market in India. Still, the percentage of people who own an electric vehicle rapidly increases by 200 percent every year. With this rate of EV adoption, it’s expected that 30 percent of electric cars will be in use by the end of the decade.
Electric vehicles are unavoidable, and IC car technology must be phased out, if not now, then, of course, in the future. However, it is more crucial to be wise during electric vehicle adoption by country. Become a savvy investor and user of this rapidly expanding goldmine sector.