He emphasised the importance of electric mobility as a “tool to develop pollution-free transport”.
Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari claimed that electric vehicles (EV) in India will cost the same as petrol vehicles in the next two years.
He expressed confidence that within one year or by 2 years at most, petrol vehicles and e-vehicles will cost the same.
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How?
He cited the development of EV charging points across the country along with the government providing production linked incentives (PLI) behind the costs going down.
He added that there will be a huge margin in “the cost of fuel compared with petrol and electric”.
Presently, GST is only 5% on EVs and the cost of lithium ion batteries is going down.
On top of that, the government has formulated a policy which would allow petrol pumps to set up EV charging stations.
Building Charging Infrastructure
If the policy is successful, then there will be 700 EV charging points across major highways by 2023.
These will be spread across a range of 40-60 kms.
The government also wants to ensure that these stations are powered by renewable sources since “there is no benefit in producing coal based electricity”.
Domestic EV charging can be fulfilled through rooftop solar systems which would address “the twin problem of high electricity cost and grid reliability.”
Per Km Cost
He added that electric mobility is gaining traction in the country without needing any “artificial push”.
He further cited the low per kilometre cost thanks to which the economics surrounding EVs is very good in India.
The per kilometre cost of petrol-based vehicles is Rs 10, that of diesel is Rs 7/km, while for EVs, it is Rs 1/km.
Electric Two- And Three-Wheelers
This matters since the country is targeting 30% EV sales penetration for private cars, 70% for commercial vehicles, 40% for buses and 80% for two- and three-wheelers by 2030.
In the current scenario, only about 2-3 e-car variants cost below Rs 15 lakh.
But the cost of two- and three-wheelers is already almost on par with the petrol counterparts after factoring in the subsidies.
He emphasised the importance of electric mobility as a “tool to develop pollution-free transport”.
Achieving Country’s Green Goals
It is also significant as a contributor to India’s plans of fulfilling half of its energy requirements via renewable energy sources by 2030.
It also has ambitions to reduce its carbon emissions by 1 million tons between 2020-2030.
In keeping with the COP26 commitment to achieve a net zero emissions target by 2070, India is also aiming to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by ~45%.
He made his comments at a webinar organised by Denmark’s The Sustainability Foundation titled ‘Accelerate the phase-out of coal and speed up the switch to electric vehicles’.