Electric Vehicles This Week: Ola EV Cabs, India’s PLI Scheme & More

The government of India has approved the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme for manufacturing advanced chemistry cell (ACC) batteries at an estimated outlay of INR 18,100 Cr. The National Programme on ACC Battery Storage is expected to attract foreign and domestic investment of INR 45,000 Cr, information and broadcasting (I&B) minister Prakash Javadekar said.

The proposal aims to achieve manufacturing of 50 gigawatts of battery storage and these incentives will be available to those companies having higher production as well as sales capacity. EV Manufactures believe that the PLI scheme for battery storage can bring down EV cost.

India is also planning to set up AC charging points for EV in the next two months, in order to bring down the cost of setting up charging stations across India. As per the statement issued by the government, the target price for these AC charging points will start as low as INR 3,500 per unit, which is half of what the charging units currently available for electric two and three-wheelers cost.

The low-cost AC charge point allows up to 3kW of power to be drawn to charge electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers. The low-cost AC ChargePoint can be set up anywhere with a 220V 15A single-phase line.

“By 2025, forecasts expect up to 4 million of such vehicles (EV) could be sold each year, growing to almost 10 million by 2030. Any charging solution to serve this sector must be highly scalable, easily accessible by the public; it should support interoperability, and be affordable,” the statement added.

Electric Vehicles News Of The Week

Meghalaya Sets New EV Policy

Meghalaya announced its electric vehicles (EV) policy this week, with the aim of 15% electrification of the vehicle fleet by 2025. The newly announced policy has taken cognizance of the co-benefits of this strategy that include meeting air pollution and climate change mitigation and energy security goals.

As per the policy, Meghalaya has only six EVs to its state fleet. But even this tiny fleet has helped save about 1,568 litres of fuel and reduced 3,901 kg of carbon dioxide. The 15% target is likely to bring in about 20,000 EVs in the state, and is expected to save about 50,00,000 litres of fuel and reduce about 10,000 kg of CO2 per day or more than 36.5 lakh kg of CO2 per year.

EV May Not Form 1% of Cars By 2024, Says Hyundai

Hyundai Motors India president SS Kim said that the adoption of electrics in the Indian car market will be slow and may not cross 1% of overall sales in the next three years. High cost of lithium-ion batteries, constraint on affordability and single-charge running range are among the industry faces.

Ola Introduces New Category For EV

Ola has announced that it is launching a new EV category on its ride-hailing platform, which will allow riders to specifically book rides in a fully electric vehicle. The category, called Ola EV, is a global first for ILa and will be available across London. It will roll out to other cities around the world where Ola is operational.

There Could Be 145 Mn EVs On Road By 2030

The number of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the road worldwide could reach 145 Mn by 2030, which is nearly 15X more than today. If this target of 145 Mn EVs, excluding two-wheelers, is reached, it will represent 7% of the global vehicle fleet, as per the International Energy Agency (IEA).