Government push for E Mobility

Six leading car makers are eyeing the government’s plan to buy 10,000 electric vehicles while policy makers are considering generous fiscal incentives to make their capital and running cost cheaper than petrol cars within five years.

Broadly, the aim is to put on roads 1 million electric three-wheelers and 10,000 electric city buses by mid-2019 and make India the world leader in at least some segments of the market as the country strives to shift entirely to battery-powered transportation by 2030, government officials said.

In six to eight months, 10,000 e-vehicles are expected to be running in the national capital region.

The tender to buy 10,000 e-vehicles has already attracted Tata Motors, Hyundai, Nissan, Renault, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra, and would be quickly followed by a dramatic scaling up of the e-vehicles programme, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) managing director Saurabh Kumar told.

The tender would be awarded by the end of this month and cars would start rolling in by mid-November, he said.

“We have a thing that we start small; we try to do things right, and then immediately scale it up to things that people can’t even imagine … We are testing a business model. This is a signal to the industry that government is serious about it. And 10,000 (e-vehicles) is just the starting,” Kumar said, alluding to the success of EESL’s competitive procurement of LED bulbs, which helped prices crash.

Along with competitive tendering, which has already begun, the government is also considering fiscal incentives for e-vehicles.

Bids for 4,000 Chargers in NCR

These include zero duties on these vehicles and cheaper electricity to charge them, government officials said. Apart from e-vehicles, EESL has also invited bids for 4,000 chargers in the national capital region, to make it convenient to operate e-vehicles.

“There is full justification for a consumer to start using electric cars. Once you have 4,000 chargers, once you have 10,000 vehicles in Delhi and NCR, people will start demanding electric cars,” he said.

Officials said the government also plans to invite bids for 50,000 electric three-wheelers by the end of this year, and to float another tender for battery-powered buses next year.

Principal advisor in the ministry of power and new and renewable energy Ashok Jhunjhunwala, who is spearheading the drive towards e-mobility, said the intent is to scale up early and take global leadership. He said costs would fall.

"With battery costs coming down, in five years the capital costs of an electric vehicle with an acceptable range will be lower than that of a petrol vehicle... But if we wait, India will import most EV sub-systems and batteries instead of oil," Jhunjhunwala told.