NEW DELHI – HS Panno, an independent contractor who lives in a spacious two story penthouse in New Delhi, had doubts when they bought their first electric car in September.
So far he’s happy with his fuel and maintenance savings, which have been cut by more than half, but disappointed with the practical limitations of driving his Nexon XZ +. For starters, he says he only gets 200 kilometers per charge, not the promised range of 315 kilometers. And he cannot drive the car outside of the city because there are no charging stations.
Electric vehicles are a rarity in India, where more than 300 million vehicles, most of them scooters and three-wheel motorized rickshaws, block highways. The country is now ambitiously pushing for what it calls “electromobility” to reduce smog. But the effort is fraught with technological and logistical hurdles, even for these relatively simple vehicles.
The electric vehicle passenger car segment may potentially be huge, but right now it’s a niche within a niche: In March, 25,640 electric vehicles were sold nationwide, 90% of which were two- and three-wheelers. The total of 400,000 electric vehicles registered in India in 2019 accounted for less than 0.2% of all vehicles.
Panno received a $ 1,770 discount as an incentive for the government to buy its Nexon XZ +, the mid-range electric vehicle model from Indian automaker Tata. It was priced at $ 22,740, roughly twice the price of the company’s most popular gas-powered models.
“It’s a good car and a pleasure to drive, but I’m still afraid of collapsing halfway due to insufficient charge,” said Panno.
Officials see electric vehicles as a solution to the deadly smog clogging city streets, despite the fact that, for the most part, heavily polluting coal-fired power plants generate the electricity needed to charge.
The Indian capital, New Delhi, offers a range of subsidies to first-time electric vehicle buyers. Electric vehicles are also exempt from road tax and registration fees, and there are other incentives to encourage the replacement of old gas and diesel vehicles with new electric vehicles. About half of India’s 31 states have drawn up similar EV policies with varying degrees of progress.
The New Delhi government recently removed the Nexon XZ + and Nexon XM from the list of a dozen eligible all-wheel drive vehicles. The reason? Their short range.
According to Tata, the range of the Nexon XZ + of 315 kilometers has been verified by the official Automotive Research Association of India. However, the actual range depends on factors such as the air conditioning system, “individual driving style and the conditions in which the vehicle is driven,” the company said in a statement.
The EV market has grown 20% annually and is dominated by five major players: Tata, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., MG Motor India, Olectra Greentech Ltd. and JBM Auto Ltd.
Local automakers have been slow to move into the production of electric vehicles and their parts, mainly due to the lack of demand. Those who got on mostly rely on cheap imports, which have contributed to complaints about poor quality.
Last year India increased import tariffs on electric vehicles and their parts, including all major and expensive lithium-ion batteries. These and other measures are aimed at boosting domestic production, increasing quality and bringing prices down to the level of conventional cars.
Some domestic and overseas companies have paid heed to this, and dozens of projects are in preparation. Tata is planning a lithium-ion production facility in the Indian state of Gujarat valued at $ 54 million. The Japanese company Toshiba-Denzo-Suzuki has opened a factory for the production of lithium-ion batteries for the Maruti Suzuki and Suzuki engine plants in the western state of Gujarat, a hub for automobile manufacturing. Elon Musk recently announced that Tesla plans to build an EV factory in southern India.
According to Moushumi Mohanty, head of the electromobility department at the Center for Science and Environment, a non-profit organization focused on sustainable development, the shortage of charging stations remains a major hurdle.
“For the supply side to work, the government needs to formulate a standardized legal framework to monitor the quality of the technology and security parameters,” added Mohanty.
India has endeavored to follow the example of the US, Japan and China in building its auto industry, which already directly or indirectly employs more than 35 million people and accounts for more than 7% of the country’s gross domestic product. To repair the damage caused by the pandemic, the country’s leaders are aiming to double exports of vehicles and components over the next five years.
Efforts to increase the use of electric vehicles are part of a global trend. Sales of such vehicles were up 40% year over year in 2019, accounting for 2.6% of global car sales, or about 1% of all vehicles, according to the International Energy Agency.
But for the foreseeable future, the Indian electric vehicle market is likely to remain the domain of electric scooters and rickshaws, which cost $ 1,200 to $ 3,680 and need charging facilities like passenger cars.
Ashok Kumar switched from working in a print shop to driving an electric rickshaw taxi three years ago after hearing that the New Delhi government was offering subsidies. However, he never got the promised discount for his $ 1,770 electric rickshaw.
Kumar sets off every day, realizing that he only has until noon to earn as much as possible. Then he has to rush home to charge his vehicle.
It takes 12 hours to charge to get it to five hours, he says.
“It’s absolutely useless,” he said of the e-rickshaw as he waited for customers outside a subway station.
So far, New Delhi, a city of 31 million people, has only 72 active charging stations, and another 100 are in the pipeline. That is nowhere near enough for a city that wants to ensure that a quarter of all new vehicles sold, regardless of size, are electric.
The problem is worst for commercial vehicles that cannot afford to stop to recharge during the day. Most private EV owners only charge their vehicles at home and view public charging stations as a last resort.
Jasmine Shah, vice-chairwoman of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission, a government think tank that leads the capital’s electric mobility initiative, shakes off such complaints. India needs electric vehicles to improve the environment, he said.
“We’re just focusing on driving demand for electric vehicles. The rest will follow, ”said Shah.