India has this year (2017) set a target of 100 percent electric vehicles by 2030, and clearly also has in sight the self-manufacturing and opportunity to reduced oil imports that this requires. So, with the three largest nations globally (China, India and the U.S.), all embracing this transformation, the convergence of technology innovation and battery storage plus deflationary economies of scale are combining to change all aspects of global energy markets.
The overall electric vehicle market for storage in India is likely to be 4.7 GW in 2022. Over 50% of the market in 2022 will be driven by e-rickshaw batteries. 200 charging stations are proposed to be set up in Delhi, Jaipur & Chandigarh. Delhi government launched a subsidy scheme of INR 30,000 for the E-Rickshaws in 2016. Government is targeting of 6-7 Million electric and hybrid vehicles on road by 2020. Smart charging company, new motion announced to invest INR 1000 crore in India on charging infra development.
Reuters recently reported that the key proposals in the EV policy blueprint include:
- Limiting registration of conventional vehicles through public lotteries and preferential registration for electric vehicles.
- Bulk procurement of electric vehicles and building standardised and swappable batteries to bring down the cost as well as having favourable tariff structures for charging vehicles.
- Prioritise battery and charging infrastructure development by setting up a 250 megawatt per hour battery plant by 2018 with an aim to reach one gigawatt of production by 2020.
- Setting up battery swapping stations and common manufacturing facilities for EV components.
- Increasing subsidies on EV batteries to bring cost parity with conventional models by 2025.
- Incentivising use of EVs by lowering taxes, interest rates on loans, electricity tariffs for fleet operators and duties on manufacturing such cars.
India’s electric vehicles industry is nascent with just 0.1 per cent global market share. In comparison, China is a world leader with over 50 per cent global annual market share. China is spending largely on subsidising local companies, pushing them at the forefront of electric mobility technologies. Some of the other measures announced by China includes research funding and rules framed to discourage vehicles running on fossil- fuels. China is also making it mandatory for car makers to manufacture a certain percentage of EVs annually.
Some of the global automotive players like Tesla Inc. and Toyota Motor Corp. have shown interest in the Indian EV market. Nissan also plans to bring its best- selling electric vehicle Leaf to India. Suzuki Motor Corp. announced that it would form a joint venture with Denso Corp. and Toshiba Corp. to produce lithium-ion batteries for EVs in India with an initial capital expenditure of USD 184 million. Large Indian corporates like BHEL, PGCIL and Vedanta Group have shown interest in making EVs, setting up charging stations and developing storage solutions respectively.
India’s energy import bill is expected to double from around USD 150 billion to USD 300 billion by 2030. The shift to EVs will also help reduce India’s energy imports where it looks to the cut oil import bill to half by 2030 and reduce emissions as a part of its commitment to the Paris climate treaty. The growth in sale of EVs will lead to more demand for power, especially renewable energy. This will help tackle intermittency issues of renewable power and reduce reliance on imported oil.