India has a lot to gain by converting its ICE vehicles to EVs at the earliest. Its oil-import bill would considerably reduce. ICE vehicles are a major contributor to pollution in cities and their replacement with EVs will definitely improve air quality.

The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme launched in the 2015, kick-started the adoption of electric vehicles in India by providing financial incentives for Electric Vehicle (EV) purchase, charging infrastructure deployment and Research and Development (R&D) of electric vehicles.

Digitization, increasing automation and new business models have revolutionized other industries, and the automotive industry is on the verge of disruption.

The automotive industry in India, with respect to EV implementation is facing issues including economic downturn to the need to improve emissions performance and urgency to shift to electrification.

Speaking at the launch of DLGM, Dr. Ajay Mathur, D-G, TERI said, “Electric vehicles (EVs) are by far the most practical vehicle technology intervention to address rising air pollution in Indian cities.

In his inaugural address, Dr Winfried Damm, Head of Indo-German Energy Programme, GIZ, said, “Lifetime and ownership costs of EVs are coming down fast coupled with increase in number of EVs, especially in developed nations.

Mr M. Vijay Kumar, Joint Adviser, Transport, NITI Aayog highlighted several initiatives taken by the Government of India to promote green mobility.  

India has a vision of 100% electric vehicles by 2030, while around 40-45% EV conversion by 2030 is a realistic expectation. The Indian EV Industry is in its nascent stages with only 2 electric car manufacturers, about 10+ players in 2 Wheelers and 3-4 OEM’s in Electric buses.

HT Auto speaks to Sohinder Gill of The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles to find out what India can learn from other countries to take EVs to the masses.

Namma Auto is a project aimed at promoting the transition to a sustainable urban public transport and at reducing poverty of auto-rickshaw drivers in Bangalore and Chennai, India. The project is led by the Italian NGO ACRA and co-financed by the European Union - Switch Asia program.