Road for switch to e-cars not clear, say industry leaders
Gurgaon: Days after the Centre approved amendments in the electric vehicle charging guidelines to push the growth of electric vehicles, industry experts and investors on Wednesday pointed out the policy, infrastructure, resource and technical challenges in transitioning to electric mobility.
The industry leaders who discussed the future of electric vehicles at the EVConIndia event in the city are of the opinion that government should adopt a proactive and expedited approach towards infrastructure creation and dilution of import rules, among others, to attract investors and manufactures to produce affordable EVs.
“There are various hurdles in the adoption of electric vehicles. Apart from lack of awareness among the consumers, financing is a major issue. In the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) category, 70% of the vehicles are financed but for EVs it’s only about 3%. A proper ecosystem has to be built to push growth of EVS,” said Naveen Munjal, managing director, Hero Electric.
Speaking about government efforts and the policy incentives for the market, Rajeev Chaba, managing director, MG Motors pointed out that the government still has to provide clarity on the rules around EVs. “There’s still no clarity over the rules and policy directives. That needs to be addressed. From e-rickshaw to buses and four-wheelers, all of them require different solutions, different ecosystem and different solution providers,” noted Chaba.
Reiterating Chaba’s argument on more policy incentives, Koushik Bhattacharya, director and head (Industrials) of Avendus Capital, said that lack of price parity between EVs and the vehicles that run on fossil fuels is an immediate challenge for the EV industry in India. “The high upfront cost of such vehicles is prohibiting the transition,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Pavan Choudary, public intellectual & MD of Vygon India said, “Just as banks are investing in blockchain technology which might disrupt them, entrenched players in the ICE markets should also put greater energy behind developing EVs. Those segments of the industry which are disrupted should be made beneficiaries of the new technology.”
Speaking on behalf of government’s commitment towards electric mobility, Sameer Pandita, director BEE, ministry of power, told TOI, “The current guidelines have been revised based on the recommendations made by the industry and experts. Great stress has been laid on charging infrastructure,” He added that the government is also focusing on subsidies to bring down the up-front cost of making vehicles.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes
