NOVEMBER 20189our resources of land and environ-ments. A quick glance at the num-bers highlight that between 2014 and 2050, close to 400 million Indi-ans will be urbanized (World Bank Projections). And as early as 2030, we will have at least 7 mega cities with a population of 10million plus and almost 50 cities each with pop-ulation over 1 million. These con-centrated masses of people need us to rethink mobility in a manner which addresses not just conges-tion but also pollution. While India races to the future with mass rapid transportation systems, advanced connectivity and vehicle sharing models; it needs to it find ways to make mobility sustainable. I have always believed that the most sus-tainable way to travel is to walk, but massive distances sometimes make it unreasonable. The next best al-ternative hence, is to use shared electric mobility; reducing the car-bon footprint for all passengers. The need for electric mass mobility and sustainable last mile connectivity stems from here. This segment has the potential to become more organized and defi-nitely be more green and sustain-able, and there are several models that can support this. An interest-ing sustainable mobility application in the city is in the space of shared employee commute and fleet appli-cations of EVs. In fact, owing to my association with Mahindra Electric, I have had the opportunity to study these segments and the adoption possibilities thereof, on a personal level. Sustainable mobility in fleet applications not just encourages greener living, but also makes eco-nomic sense. Working with these set ups, we have had multiple business learnings like ­ the fastest way to breakeven is by ensuring that EVs are always running, an efficient way to run the operations is by installing fast charging infrastructure at key locations, using software support systems to draw on the enhanced connectivity capabilities of EVs re-sulting into maximum value in terms of output from asset, and EV bat-teries can last almost upto two lakh kms for an individual vehicle without requiring major overhaul. These and many similar learnings have brought me to believe that the way for In-dia to adopt sustainable mobility is through mass and shared applica-tions of electric vehicles. I believe that today, India is standing at a tipping point. We have a past which boasts of the widest range of vehicles ­ two wheelers, three wheelers, cars, LCVs, HCVs etc. powering mobility for the econ-omy. And now we are building a new future with a mobility ecosystem which is sustainable, green, con-nected, shared and yet serving the unique Indian requirements. As a nation, we are going to integrate everything and present one of the largest EV ecosystem models across economies. The world is looking up to us! And it is people like you and me who will create this future. My col-leagues, my peers in the industry and the government, my friends and family who are a part of this eco-system as consumers; it is us who will collectively make this happen. A greener future is in our hands! While India races to the future with mass rapid transportation systems, advanced connectivity and vehicle sharing models; it needs to it find ways to make mobility sustainableMahesh Babu
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