Why India’s Electric Vehicle Plan Should Be Different from China

The Indian auto industry has spoken in unison. The country’s ambitions to fully electrify vehicles by 2030 will come to nought, zilch, or in simple words nothing. Speaking on the sidelines of a heightened debate on the scope of electric vehicles, many industry experts and automakers expressed their confusion on where India is headed.

What hasn’t helped their cause are contradictory statements made by the country’s governing bodies. After asking automakers to look at going 100 percent electric by 2030, the same regime came out in public and suggested that India doesn’t need any electric vehicle policies.

This cacophony, as rightly put by one of the panelists at the event is not what India needs. “We need a Zubin Mehta to orchestrate how the future of mobility in India can be served with clean energy,” says the panelist who didn’t want to be named.

India is Not Like China
Let’s stop looking at what India’s neighbours have done over the past decade. India as a geographic and demographic strata functions in different ways, and that logic stands its ground in this subject as well.

In fact, India has always been a country that’s run on the shared mobility model. “Indians have mastered shared mobility for years. A 35-seat bus fits more than 60 people. Autos carry 15 people when they have space for 5,” said another analyst present at the event.