EV Revolution In India: A Look Into Indigenous Models

The Indian electric vehicle market is expanding with many new companies and big automobile giants foraying into this sector for better and healthy future of the world. The country is constantly seeing the introduction of vehicles equipped with these batteries, and the demand for EVs is also growing.

But do you know that these electric automobiles are not a recent development in India? The country’s road to develop an electric vehicle was started in 1993 when India’s first electric car was launched which was named Lovebird. Eddy Current Controls, a business formed by MD Jose and situated in Chalakkudy, Kerala, produced the Lovebird.

In this article, we will discuss the history of electric vehicles in India and the current revolution in the automobile sector.

History

The car launched in 1993 had a DC motor which was powered by a lead-acid battery and it has a four-speed gearbox. This electric car had 60 km of driving range with a single charge. The battery took six to eight hours to fully charge. However, this car had a limitation of driving on slopes as it had 15 degrees of driving on slopes.

When the government allowed the commercial sales of the car, the company was able to sold only 25 cars. In the early times also, the government came forward to boost the adoption of the electric vehicle and allowed a subsidy of INR 80,000 which was later stopped resulting in shutdown of the production of this Lovebird car.

In 2000, first electric bus was launched in India which was developed by BHEL. This electric bus had a seating capacity of 18 passengers and it was powered by the lead-acid battery.

First Successful Electric Car of India: REVA

The first successful electric car was launched by Chetan Maini’s Reva Electric Car Company which was named REVA. The car came into existence as a result of a joint venture between the Mani Group of Bangalore and Amerigon Electric Vehicle Technologies (AEVT Inc.) of the USA.

Later, in 2010, General Motors India announced its electric hatchback E-spark in Auto Expo 2010 in New Delhi for which the battery technology was supplied by Reva.

However, Mahindra & Mahindra acquired a 55.2 per cent majority stake in Reva on 26 May 2010 after which the company was renamed as Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd and In 2016, the company was rebranded as Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd. In the backdrop of this development in the new market of electric vehicles, General Motors India dropped the plan of collaboration with Reva.

Future of EVs in India

The government has shown its vision and intention to replace all the vehicles in India to electric vehicles by 2030 and according to its ambitious target, it intends to make sure that every car that will be sold would be an electric one.

Aligning with this vision, many car manufacturers have announced their upcoming electric vehicles. This shows that there is a significant increase in production of electric vehicles. Consumers are also adopting electric and electric hybrid variants of vehicles.

To fulfil this mission, the state and centre government have introduced various schemes for the consumers, dealers, and manufacturers to boost the demand of these green vehicles. The government is also keen about developing better charging infrastructure for the smooth functioning of the electric vehicles.

India is also among the global EV race and making a significant place by adopting the electric vehicles easily. The country will also become the hub for battery production.

If we check, there are many new companies came which are developing their electric vehicles. Some of these companies are Ola, Simple Energy, Ather, Hyundai and MG. Tata is also making a significant place in this EV race as the Tata Nexon EV becomes the most sold Electric car in India.

Adoption of EV: A result of Paris Agreement

The automotive industry is one of the major sources of emissions in India. To achieve its net zero emissions targets, India must make this sector a priority.

A complete push for EV adoption could be just what India needs to meet its targets, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), set under the 2015 Paris Agreement. India has pledged to produce 50 per cent of its electricity from non-fossil sources by 2030 and to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 per cent.

Transport contributes almost 23 per cent of the current global energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is growing faster than any other energy end-use sector.

Limiting the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius requires changing this transport emissions trajectory, which involves the development of an integrated electromobility ecosystem encompassing various transport modes, coupled with the low-carbon production of electricity and hydrogen, implemented in conjunction with broader sustainable transport principles.

According to the International Energy Agency, this transition will require, inter alia, pursuit of global rail transport electrification, already underway, as well as at least 20 percent of all road transport vehicles globally to be electrically driven by 2030 – if warming is to be limited to 2 degrees or less. Of this, light vehicles would primarily contribute: more than 400 million two and three-wheelers in 2030, up from roughly 230 million today; and more than 100 million cars in 2030, up from 1 million today.

Some Indigenous EV Models

Tata Nexon EV INR 14.74 - 19.94 Lakh

Tata Tiago EV INR 8.69 - 12.04 Lakh

Kia EV6 INR 60.95 - 65.95 Lakh

Mahindra XUV 400 EV INR 15.99 - 19.39 Lakh

MG Comet EV. INR 7.98 - 9.98 Lakh

BMW i7 INR 2.03 - 2.50 Cr

BMW iX INR 1.21 Cr

Tata Tigor EV INR 12.49 - 13.75 Lakh

Conclusion

The history of electric vehicles in India is definitely old as the first electric car in India was launched in 1993. But, if we talk about the future of EV, it is definitely bright as government is trying everything to make the EV infrastructure easy. Government decided to convert all cars in 2030 to electric cars. It is working with companies to make the charging infrastructure better. Subsidies and incentives are also being provided by the state and central government to make this possible.