Electric vehicles: Is India a colossal market for deployment?


Electric vehicles: Is India a colossal market for deployment?

EVs first came into existence in the mid-19th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for motor vehicle propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time. Internal combustion engines were the dominant propulsion method for cars and trucks for about 100 years, but electric power remained commonplace in other vehicle types, such as trains and smaller vehicles of all types. Electric vehicles are either partially or fully powered on electric power with a very low maintenance cost. They have less moving parts for maintaining and also very environmentally friendly as they use little or no fossil fuels.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The major benefit of electric cars is the contribution that they can make towards improving air quality in towns and cities. With no tailpipe, pure electric cars produce no carbon dioxide emissions while driving. This reduces air pollution considerably as well as due to being fully electric it lacks noisy combustion engines, which are often virtually silent. ... at a standstill, EVs must make a sound of at least 40 dB, about the volume of a refrigerator softly humming.

EVs can go beyond the above mentioned technology based classification, and can be classified on the basis of their attributes such as charging time, driving range, and the maximum load it can carry. Of these attributes, the two most important characteristics of an electric vehicle of concern to the consumer are the fear that the battery will run out of charge before reaching their destination, which is also known as “range anxiety,” fear of too few charging stations and initial higher upfront vehicle costs. One big reason was also found out that charging EVs is slow. While drivers today are accustomed to filling their gas tank in less than five minutes, EVs, depending on the size and specifications of the battery, typically take at least 30 minutes to get 80 percent charged at the fastest charging stations out there. E- mobility is the latest innovation in the field of technology and the market is very high right now as the petrol and diesel prices are at boom nowadays.

HIGH ON DEMAND

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With the prices of petrol inching closer to Rs 120 per litre, the demand for battery-operated vehicles like scooters, cars is on the rise as well as the awareness of reducing carbon emissions gains ground. While Speaking to a customer, S. Radhakrishnan, a resident of Srirangam said that he had purchased an e-vehicle two months ago and has saved at least 1,000 already. “I have used the vehicle for 600 kilometres. In a petrol vehicle, it would require at least 12 litres of petrol. On the other hand, a single charge of the vehicle, which would give up to 100 km of mileage, consumes only up to 1.2 units of electricity,” he claimed. It also helps reduce pollution, he added and when asked about the main concerns regarding the charging stations availability and speed of the electric vehicle he replied that it would soon change as the market is surging at a very fast rate right now. “Once more people start buying electric vehicles, charging stations will crop up just like petrol bunks and about the speed it can go up to 120 km/hr”. This is the future of transport, he added.

PRICE TO PERFORMANCE RATIO

An e-vehicle costs anywhere from 45,000 to 1,25,000 depending upon the models. There is no maintenance charge for at least four years after its purchase, but in a petrol vehicle, you have to service it once in a few months, road taxes, insurances and other miscellaneous expenses will prove to be very costly as well as replacing a battery in an e-vehicle now costs 18,000 which will surely reduce in the next few years.

As the E-mobility market is surging the demands keeps on rising as well and with the too much increase of petrol and diesel prices  many companies launched their electric vehicles this year .Ola and Aetherwhich is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world's largest ride-hailing companies  serving 250+ cities across India launched their electric vehicle this year by the name “Ola Electric Scooter” and  “Aether 450X”  both the varients starting from 99 thousand  going all the way up towards  1,30,000.Ola Cabs founder and Ola Electric CEO  “BhavishAggarwal” is planning to ride an Ola electric car in 2023 as well a “Tarun Mehta”  CEO of Aether says “The only impediment to the growth of electric vehicles can be charging infrastructure bottlenecks that may crop up in the next few years”. In the last few months, the EV industry has seen 30-40 percent growth every month. In the next 2-3 years, volumes may grow 20-30 times over the cumulative volumes of the last 15 years, he adds.The fight for the EV segment in India has just started heating up.

EXPERIMENTATION

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Electric vehicles function by plugging into a charge point and taking electricity from the grid. They store the electricity in rechargeable batteries that power an electric motor, which turns the wheels and to monitor the kilometres charging level and speed a wide Lcd screen is also provided for hassle free driving.  Electric cars accelerate faster than vehicles with traditional fuel engines – so they feel lighter to drive so far, the main aspect that makes an EV stand out from the petrol & diesel engines is the battery and the capacity. The choice of batteries depends on the energy density, weight and costs. Electric cycles and low range mopeds have simple battery units while electric cars deploy a large number of batteries. Traditionally, most electric vehicles have used lead - acid batteries due to their mature technology, easy availability and low cost. However, since the 1990s battery technologies have evolved significantly and several new types of batteries have been developed. More recently, batteries using combinations of lithium ion and its variations are gaining widespread acceptance due to better efficiency, reduced weight, lower charging time, better power output, longer lifetime, and reduced environmental implications from battery disposal.

NEW INVENTIONS AND GROWTH

In January 2020, while many companies  stepped into the 2 wheeler market ,  TATA introduced their first electric 4 wheeler in India as “Tata Nexon” And “Tata Altroz” which was a compact electric vehicle  charged up the entire ecosystem with smart partnership and was a revolutionary step towards the EV future .

Alongside global electric vehicle market size is projected to grow from 4,093 thousand units in 2021 to 34,756 thousand units by 2030, at a CAGR of 26.8%. India has already shown its keen interest to be a major part of this automotive paradigm shift.