Recent developments that highlight the evolution of two and three-wheelers to all-electric have captured the interest of companies in the Battery Swapping technology space.
New Delhi: The biggest challenge in the first and the last mile commute solution – Electric Rickshaw (e-rickshaw) — is the time-consuming battery charging, but battery swapping can eliminate wait time for charging and increase available run time.
With endless possibilities, it is evident that battery swapping will pave the way forward in e-mobility and make electric rickshaw the preferred green choice of public transport.
The concept of electric vehicles (EVs) has been around for a long time, but it has drawn significant interest only in the past decade. India made its first concrete decision to incentivise EVs in 2010 when under the Rs 95-crore scheme approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the government announced financial incentives for manufacturers of electric vehicles sold in India.
With the ongoing efforts and push from the GOI for making electric vehicles mandatory for all government officials in ministries and departments, it is being pegged as a defining step that will ultimately reduce carbon footprint and other adverse environmental impacts of the fuel-based vehicles.
With rapidly evolving mobility, electric vehicles (EV) are expected to influence the way we travel in future. Electric vehicles have opened a plethora of business opportunities for automobile companies within the country and across the globe.
Traditionally, India is a market dominated by two-wheelers and three-wheelers with the numbers consistently growing over the next decade. Hence, the EV market has a great potential to be explored by companies whetther they are vehicle makers or spare parts providers.
While electric cars and scooters have been gaining traction for personal use, little focus has been put on public transport means. As per a study by SMEV, the total number of electric cars sold in India in 2019-20 was less than 4,000.
On the other hand, there are over 2 Million three-wheeler electric rickshaws already on road. Presently, 70 million people are using these electric rickshaws every day for their first and last mile, to and from public transport hubs and for short distance commute in a shared vehicle which is manufactured by 700 OEMs.
Recent developments that highlight the evolution of two and three-wheelers to all-electric have captured the interest of companies in the Battery Swapping technology space. A major dampener in user adoption of these EVs is a higher TCO due to expensive batteries.
Drivers of these EVs spend a lot of money on buying new batteries, also the batteries require time to be charged, making it a major challenge for the drivers and owners. This situation is ultimately giving rise to the EV battery swapping market for two and three-wheeler EVs.
The concept of battery swapping essentially enables zero wait time for charging and a significantly lower up-front cost for two and three-wheelers. The basic swapping approach is simple – a user can visit a swapping station 2-3 times a day and quickly replace a discharged battery with a fully-charged new battery in less than two minutes. These Lithium-ion batteries weigh somewhere around 7-15 kg range and consume very little physical space.
Due to the battery’s low weight, it’s very easy for anyone to simply pick up and swap in their respective two or three-wheeler. Battery swapping stations can easily pack in 15-20 replacement batteries due to their compact form.
These advanced batteries allow the driver to cover a range of up to 160 km a day without any downtime or range anxiety. The most notable feature of battery swapping is its ultimate accessibility and overall deduction in expense. With endless possibilities, it’s quite evident that battery swapping will pave the way forward in the e–mobility.
Presently, the e-rickshaw industry has several organised and unorganised players in the fray. The Government of India has been playing its part to promote this sector. Electric Rickshaws are now a recognised vehicle category and are registered and certified by various bodies. It is under the government subsidy schemes both central (like Fame 2) and state (Like the Delhi EV policy).
Yet, three major issues come in the way for this innovation to thrive. Firstly, a lot of states still do not allow e-rickshaws, like Maharashtra and Karnataka while some cities are also stopping registration due to oversupply.
Also, lack of structured charging infrastructure means the drivers rely to charge their vehicles at micro-operated illegal charging hubs at predatory costs which actually is also a large loss to DISCOMs (Delhi DISCOMs alone are estimated to lose Rs 150 Cr annually).
Nevertheless, battery swapping has the potential to overcome these challenges and unlock twice the earnings for drivers. Promoting e-rickshaws leads to a cascading effect in terms of impact on the environment, as not only are these vehicles battery operated, but they also provide the much needed first and last mile commuting solution to India, thus promoting public transport ridership be it buses or metros in big cities. It is now up to us to recognise this unique opportunity and provide impetus to battery swapping for EVs.
Source: ETEnergyWorld
