Electric Vehicles This Week: Assessing India’s 2030 Electric Mobility Goals & More

About 30% of the new vehicle sales in India will be electric by 2030, the International Energy Agency said in its latest global electric vehicles (EV) outlook, far away from the Indian government’s target of only selling electric vehicles by 2030.

The report notes that the EV penetration in India will mainly be led by electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, which will reach a cumulative sales share of almost 50%. The IEA highlighted that the rate of electrification of buses and light-duty vehicles will be lower, expected to be below 15% of the total sale share by 2030. The entry of big EV players such as Tesla could catalyse the high-end segment in the EV market.

One of the main reasons behind this disparity is the easier registration of two-wheelers and three-wheelers under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and EV (FAME II) policy, which also require less capital expenditure from businesses.

“Only 3% of the allocated funds under FAME II have been used for a total of just 30 000 vehicles. Significant acceleration will be required to reach both the programme targets and national targets of 30% EV sales by 2030,” IEA said about the Indian market.

Government think-tank NITI Aayog believes that the government should provide incentives on emobility purchases, over and above the existing subsidies under FAME. It also suggested that the government should include EVs and associated businesses in the priority lending category. “The government should give EV purchase subsidy over and above FAME-II subsidy along with interest subvention on loan amount taken for EV purchase,” the think tank said.

Electric Vehicles News Of The Week

RattanIndia Ventures Into Emobility Space

RattanIndian Enterprise on April 28 announced that it is venturing into emobility space by acquiring substantial strategic stake with INR 150 Cr investment in Revolt Intellicorp Pvt Ltd. With this, RattanIndia would have 50% board presence in Revolt Intellicorp and Rajiv Rattan will be chairman of the board. Revolt Intellicorp plans to use this funding to expand presence across key 35 metro cities.

Honda Announces New Plans For Electric Bikes And Scooters

The Honda Motor Company has announced its plan to launch a series of electric two-wheelers as early as 2024, in the personal use as well as high-performance EV segment. The company also plans to launch a three-wheeler option for the personal commuting space as well.

CredR, Crayon To Provide Upgraded Electric Bikes

Mumbai-based used bikes marketplace CredR, in collaboration with Crayon Motors,for exchange of any petrol-based two-wheeler with the latter’s electric bikes. Under the partnership, customers can upgrade from any petrol two-wheeler to Crayon Motors’ e-bikes. CredR will offer instant quotes for old petrol scooters, thereby reducing the upfront cost of the former’s e-bikes, during the exchange.

Simple Energy To Raise $15 Mn

Bengaluru-based EV startup Simple Energy is planning to raise $15 Mn in Series A round, by the third quarter of 2021. The company is in talks with venture capital firms based in India and New York.

Electric Vehicles Headlines From Around The World

South Korea Leads In Hydrogen Vehicle Supply 

South Korea is supplying the highest number of hydrogen electric vehicles, however its charging infrastructure continues to remain poor. According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), Korea has the highest number of hydrogen car distribution rate in the world, as the country has 33% of the world’s hydrogen cars operating as of last month. The report also highlighted that the charging infrastructure is inadequate with the number of vehicles per charger of 180, second after 224 vehicles per unit in the US.

General Motors To Connect 60K Charging Stations In US, Canada

General Motors has launched a new app called Ultium 360, which integrates 60K public chargers from seven different networks in the US and Canada. “Today General Motors introduced Ultium Charge 360, a holistic charging approach that integrates charging networks, GM vehicle mobile apps, and other products and services to simplify the overall charging experience for GM electric vehicle owners. Ultium Charge 360 builds on GM’s existing charging efforts to provide GM EV owners more confidence and convenience when it comes to EV charging,” the company said.