Electric Vehicles This Week: NITI Aayog Maps Financing Solutions, Japan Looks To Shift Gears

The Indian government’s policy think-tank NITI Aayog, in collaboration with The World Bank, is working on a series of policy measures to make financing more easily available for the nascent electric vehicle (EV) industry, at an affordable rate.

The policies will focus on the availability of finance for projects related to the development and manufacturing of such zero-emission vehicles. NITI Aayog believes that the unavailability of finance is considered a key hurdle for sale and other aspects of the EV industry.

“Today the interest rate on a combustion engine vehicle is 10-14% depending on the bank and the customer. The same for an electric vehicle is around 20-25% and the senior officials in Niti Aayog and the government want to create an enabling environment for the availability of finance for these vehicles. Subsequently, they will also look at the availability of finance for projects related to EVs,” a person aware of the matter told The Mint.

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According to Inc42 Plus’ estimates, driving range, cost/price premium and lack of chagrin infrastructure are the top three concerns for low adoption of EV. With easy and affordable financing solutions in place, the OEMs can look to make EVs more affordable for the end users.

EV News Of The Week

Amazon India’s EV Plans Gains Momentum, With More Potential Deals

Amazon is reportedly in talks with a clutch of electric vehicles (EV) manufacturers such as Mahindra Electric and Kinetic Green to procure customised EV for last-mile deliveries. The ecommerce giant is also in talks with Bengaluru-based Altigreen, Hyderabad’s e-trio and Gayam Motor Works, and Delhi-based EV aggregator SmartE.

Amazon will not directly procure these vehicles but will instead work with logistics partners to buy the vehicles. The company may also make strategic investments in some of these companies to align long-term interests in servicing its requirements.

Delhi Govt Stresses On E-Cycles

Delhi government’s ambitious EV policy will also include the promotion of e-cycles. The government will now offer higher incentives for ‘cargo e-cycles’ used for last-mile delivery. A purchase incentive of 33% of the price, up to INR 15K, per cargo ecycle will be given to buyers of the first 10K cargo ecycles.

The decision is being taken as part of the government’s draft proposal under the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2020, which was notified in August 2020. Under the policy, the Arvind Kejriwal-led government plans to have 25% electric vehicles on road by 2024.

Uber Seeks Partners To Meet Its EV Fleet Target

Uber India is looking to add around 3K electric vehicles and e-rickshaws to its fleet by the end of 2021. For this, the company is looking to form strategic partnership with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), EV infrastructure firms for charging and battery swapping, and fleets and financiers to make green-powered automobiles both ‘accessible and affordable’.

This is in line with the Indian unit of the US-based ride-hailing company’s plans to adopt green technologies. “As of now, we plan to have approximately 3K EVs and e-rickshaws (across two, three and four-wheelers) on our platform by the end of 2021,” Prabhjeet Singh, president, mobility, Uber India and South Asia, said.

EV Headlines From Around The World

Japan Looks To Shift Gears To EV

Japan’s trade ministry is considering a shift to electric-powered vehicles and will map out a plan by the year-end, chief government spokesperson Katsunobu Kato said. The government is also looking to abolish the sales of new gasoline-engine cars by the mid-2030 to boost emobility.

European Union Could Produce Enough Batteries By 2025

Automobile maker Hyundai has announced a modular EV-only platform Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP). The company has also announced its plans to provide 23 EV models by 2025. The company’s forest vehicle will be Hyundai Ioniq 5, which will be used in other vehicles from Hyundai and Kia Motors.

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