Future of Electric Vehicle Technology In India

Future of Electric Vehicle Technology In India

Introduction to Electric Vehicle (EV)

Electric vehicles are vehicles that are powered entirely or partially by electric energy. Since electric vehicles use little or no fossil fuels (petrol or diesel), they have low running costs and are very environmentally friendly. Battery electric vehicles used to be powered by lead-acid batteries or nickel-metal hydride batteries, but lithium-ion batteries are now widely considered the standard for modern electric vehicles because they have long battery life and are excellent at retaining energy, with a monthly self-discharge rate of 5%. While improvements in battery efficiency have been made, there is still a risk of a thermal runaway because of which, for example, Tesla Model S batteries have been prone to bursting into flames or causing explosions, but efforts have been made to improve battery safety.

Plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles (EV) are the two main types:

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV)

The number of moving parts in an electric vehicle is approximately 99% less than that of an internal combustion engine.

BEVs have the following advantages:

  • Produces very little noise
  • No spark plugs, clutch, or gears
  • It runs on rechargeable batteries instead of fossil fuels

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV)

Hybrid electric vehicles are powered by a combination of petrol (or diesel) and an electric motor, rather than just an electric motor.

 As a result, you can use traditional fuels instead of finding charge points to recharge the battery, so they are ideal for traveling long distances.

Electric Vehicles in India

With several automakers producing electric vehicles at a rapid pace in the past few years, the penetration of these vehicles has increased significantly in India, which offers the world’s largest untapped EV market in the two-wheeler segment.

According to a recent study, the electric vehicle (EV) market is expected to be worth at least $475 billion by the year 2025. Electric two-wheelers are expected to reach 15% from 1% by 2025. EVs will enter a new phase of growth, innovation, and investment as business activities pick up and the Indian economy recovers in 2022.

However, there are many obstacles in the way of their future. In spite of the government’s aggressive promotion of EV adoption in India, an inadequate infrastructure, a lack of high-performing EVs, and a high upfront cost are preventing mass adoption of EVs.

The cost of capital has always been a major factor when it comes to deciding to buy EVs, with 63% of consumers believing an electric vehicle is not within their budget. The lack of adequate charging infrastructure in our country is another major roadblock.

 It is more challenging to locate refueling stations compared to traditional petrol stations, mostly due to investment costs and difficult infrastructure development. Charging stations allow people to charge where they typically park, at home or at work, which can present their own challenges, including managing grid connections, managing multi-tenant buildings, and finding recharging slots. Nickel is anticipated to be short and lithium production scaling up would be difficult, causing price increases and resulting in manufacturers using cheaper mineral inputs, negatively affecting battery performance.

There are a number of potential market barriers that prevent the electric vehicle industry from meeting rising demand. The two-wheeler market is underdeveloped as a result of a lack of a robust manufacturing ecosystem and a concentration of supply chains. These issues will continue to be raised as the EV revolution unfolds. There is a possibility that these issues will become more acute as time goes on.

To incentivize the manufacturing of components locally and build a structured policy framework, the government introduced a number of measures as part of the ‘Make in India’ campaign. As India relies heavily on China for lithium supply chains, EV deployment is constrained. With recent policies, including the battery swapping policy, encouraging green energy generation, and decentralization of energy distribution, EV infrastructure will likely be established across the country. In addition, customer confidence in riding electric vehicles on Indian roads will grow. Since there is no charging infrastructure in place, battery swapping has avoided this problem, but both models will likely be used in the future.

Electric Vehicles in India

As the country imports over 80% of its crude oil needs, an amount of approximately $100 billion, EVs will contribute to the improvement of the country’s overall energy security.

  • In addition to creating jobs, the push for electric vehicles is anticipated to have a significant impact on the local EV manufacturing industry as well.
  • EVs are also expected to strengthen the grid through a number of grid support services, allowing more renewables to be integrated while ensuring a stable and secure grid.

Manufacturing and storing batteries has tremendous potential in promoting sustainable development in the country, especially with recent technology disruptions that emphasize e-mobility and renewable energy (450 GW by 2030).

  • Consumer electronics requiring advanced chemistry batteries have grown exponentially in demand because of the rise in per capita income, especially mobile phones, UPS, laptops, power banks, etc.
  • Consequently, batteries are one of the biggest economic opportunities of the 21st century.

Charging infrastructure for electric vehicles can be placed in private homes, as well as in public places like petrol stations and CNG stations, as well as in commercial facilities such as malls, train stations, and bus depots where electricity is derived from the local grid.

  • At least one charging station has been prescribed by the Ministry of Power in every 3 km grid. Along both sides of the highways, there should be charging stations every 25 km.
  • MBBL 2016 (Model Building Bye-Laws, 2016) mandates that 20% of parking spaces in residential and commercial buildings be allocated for EV charging facilities.

    • In addition, state governments will have to amend their respective building codes in order to give effect to the MBBL.

Research and development of electric vehicles: The Indian market needs encouragement for indigenous technologies that are good for the Indian market, both from a strategic and economic perspective.

  • It makes sense to leverage local universities and existing industrial hubs in order to decrease prices by investing in local research and development.
  • EV development should be synchronized between India and other countries such as the UK.

Tata Motors

The Tata Motors Curvv and AVINYA concept vehicles debuted in India recently, and Tata Motors has announced plans to become a major player in the electric vehicle market with a wide range of body styles and features to meet the requirements of a broad range of customers. Currently leading the domestic electric vehicles market with its Nexon EV and Tigor EV, the homegrown automaker plans to launch 500 kilometers worth of electric vehicles by 2025.

From 2025 onwards, the company plans to introduce multiple advanced electric vehicles based on its new electric vehicle architecture. The AVINYA Concept, which runs on the GEN 3 architecture of the home-grown automaker, will come in multiple body styles. Nexon EV and Tigor EV are examples of first-generation products with a range of approximately 250 kilometers.

Using an internal combustion engine model and modifying it for electrification, the second-generation products are based on adapted architecture. This SUV coupe concept, the CURVV, represents the next generation of electric vehicles, capable of operating with a 400-500 km range on a single charge.

Future of Electric Vehicles

According to a report released Wednesday by consulting firm RBSA Advisors, India’s electric vehicle (EV) market will grow 90 percent by 2030 to reach $150 billion. EVs are still in their infancy in India but are expected to grow at a CAGR of 90 percent from 2021 to 2030. As a percentage of total vehicle sales in India, electric vehicle sales are just 1.3 percent during 20-21. Although the market is expected to be much larger than that in the near future. By 2030, India may save nearly one gigatonne of carbon dioxide by shifting to shared, electrical, and connected mobility.

A substantial investment is required in R&D and product development to continue EV technology evolution in India, both for the automobile platforms and the battery/charging technology. A collective investment of Rs *25,000 crores was made by two-wheel, three-wheel, four-wheel, and electric vehicle component makers and last-mile delivery companies between January and July of 2021. In the report, a few factors contributing to the growing attractiveness of the sector to larger automobile companies and financial investors are FAME II, state policies, climbing fuel prices, tighter emission laws, and the growing awareness of environmental issues.

In conclusion, to meet the demand for two million electric vehicles on Indian roads by 2026, about 400,000 charging stations will be required. An integrated approach between the public and private sectors will be needed to meet this huge demand. The PSU industry has played a key role in providing the necessary charging infrastructure in this regard.

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