Shift to e-vehicles must be properly planned

The combative minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari has shaken up the auto industry that didn’t seem to take too seriously his decision on India going in for the electric cars by 2030. In fact, the government’s aim is to put one million electric three-wheelers on the roads in 18 months. Mr Gadkari must be complimented on asking where the vehicles industry is going. The ecology has been destroyed almost beyond repair and there should be an all-round stop to polluting entities and not restricted to just polluting vehicles. Production of vehicles is going at break-neck speed but roads are not increasing commensurately, creating all sorts of hazards from parking space to accidents and road rage not to mention pollution. It’s good news for the people, particularly for those living and working on the streets as they will not have to wear masks as some people do in Beijing.

Mr Gadkari, hopefully, has given considerable thought to his plan, specially to the infrastructure required. For instance, charging batteries will be a major challenge as the availability of 24x7 electricity supply still remains a pipedream. Besides, where is the space for parking the cars while the battery is charged which take a few hours? In Mumbai, there are about two million cars. This means two million batteries to be charged. India is not Mumbai, and smaller towns will have a huge problem. So while the intention of the minister is commendable, it’s practicality in such a short time of 12 to 13 years seems questionable. Advanced countries have taken a much longer time to achieve this.

For those living and working on the streets, who are the main victims of polluting vehicles, this is good news. It is also great for curbing the country’s huge import bill. These are the objectives that the minister spelt out for the switch to electric vehicles.

The question that arises is whether the government is putting the cart before the horse. Considering that infrastructure needs to be put in place and this is an expensive business, there are doubts as to whether these would be in place by the time the electric vehicles come on the roads. There are a mere 25 charging stations in the whole country and putting up these stations is an expensive business that can go up to Rs 20 lakhs. Even with government subsidy for the changeover, it is not that attractive for entities like the oil marketing companies for which it means investment of thousands of crores. The cost of switching to electric cars for manufacturers is estimated at Rs 1 lakh. This could scuttle the small car business. The writing’s on the wall for the auto industry and its ancillaries. The industry cannot use the high cost of batteries as an excuse to stall the changeover as the cost of lithium batteries has come down and it is expected to fall further as demand increases. It will be interesting to see how the minister’s dictat plays out in the coming months.