Problems That India Needs to Solve for Thriving Electrical Vehicle Industry

Electric vehicles or EVs are now at an all-time market peak. People are running over to buy them. Brands are continuously launching new products. This all seems like a dream come true. Also, there is no problem in saying, this is the best time to invest in the electric vehicle market in India. Government offers subsidies to buy EVs and most importantly, they are offered as the most reliable solution for CO2 emission.

Intriguingly, there is a catch. As a wise man looks at both sides, and never just jumps into things, we are here to tell you some hard to conquer obstacles in the industry that you must know before kicking off.

Charging Stations

Charging stations and EVs are two interconnected things. As soon as we mention the former, the latter appears automatically. Unlike the traditional vehicles, whose pumping stations are available almost everywhere, EV charging stations are a bit scarce. The government is working on setting up charging stations, but there is still a long way to go.

Like modern-day smartphones, EVs also have a wide variety of charging ports. Some of which are CCS / CCS Type, 2 Bharat AC-001/Bharat DC-001, GB/T and Tesla chargers. Currently, brands are using them as per their convenience, and there is no standard rule for them. Still, the government shall decide on a charger type as a standard to dodge the future hustle.

Try to understand the situation by going back to the mobile chargers. Suppose you use a normal micro USB type charger and most phones have the modern type C ones. If you leave your charger at home, the worst that can happen is that your phone will go dead and you won't be able to contact your friends. If the same happens with the vehicle, it would be a great mess!

Pricing

Having more than 600 million people in the middle class, in India, pricing is an important thing for any industry. The EV industry is also not an exception. Presently, prices of electric vehicles are high in comparison to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) based vehicles. As covid and lockdown almost slammed the economy, and people are reckoning about their budgets, they are more likely to buy a cheap vehicle rather than going for the perpetual one.

The government of India, however, is trying to make things easier by providing subsidies to the EV buyers in a Scheme namely Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme Here, the governmental policy also seems to fail, as most of the vehicles are not falling under the category.

Battery Manufacturing

Batteries are the ones responsible for the power, endurance and shelf life of any electric vehicle. If used correctly it can be a Unique Selling Point as well. While the Electric Vehicle market is booming, batteries in them are still a major issue.

For electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries are the most popular and widely used source of power. However, India does not produce lithium. Also, it does not manufacture lithium-ion batteries. Due to the reliance on imports, EV batteries in India are extremely expensive, and eventually, EVs will also cost a lot

Old Vehicles

Adapting EVs as an option is good, but presently, India has a big number of ICE based vehicles and the industry itself is worth more than USD 118 billion. Replacing all the vehicles with electric ones is an extremely hard task when the rate of adoption of new ones is slow.