Abstract:

In India, there is growing interest among policymakers, planners, and regulators for aggressive electrification of passenger vehicles to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2030. While electrifying transportation will reduce India’s oil imports, it is not clear it’s impact on lowering of greenhouse gas emissions. Also, given the chronic power shortages in the country, there are significant concerns regarding the capability of the grid to reliably handle such additional load from BEVs. The objective of this report is to assess the effect of full electrification of vehicle sales in India by 2030 on the key stakeholders. The study reveals that: (1) Despite aggressive vehicle electrification, the additional load added due to BEV charging by 2030 will be less than 3% of the total electricity load in India; (2) BEVs would significantly lower end-use CO2 emissions per km, nearly 35-37% in case of cars and nearly 50% in case of two-wheelers; (3) BEVs can also help to avoid 8% of total crude oil consumption in 2030, hence significant crude oil imports in India by 2030; (4) With smart charging, BEVs can potentially reduce the total cost of electricity generation. 

However, the study also suggested that deploying the public charging infrastructure for BEVs and enabling smart charging would involve substantial capital investments, especially by electric utilities.