Evolving Intercity Travel The government has plans to initiate intercity travel using electric vehicles. However, one of the major barriers with the operation has been the lack of infrastructure on the Indian highways

The world has been gradually moving towards a more sustainable future. One of the main drivers of the sustainable future has been climate change and pollution. The world has been a witness to a lot of natural calamities in the last five years. Typhoon Hinnamnor, Mongolian Bushfires, Dust Storm in Iraq are only a few examples of a chain of natural disasters happening all over the world.

Electric motors came before its internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts but it was its internal combustion counterpart that took the lead in the 19^thcentury due to lower cost of running as well as performance related issues. However, the electric motors of the 21^stcentury have a lower cost of running as well as better performance with less components and less wearable parts being used in the making.

Even though people are moving towards electric power, there is a hesitation regarding the electric motors due to the absence of infrastructure. Range anxiety has been the reason of deviation from the adoption of electric vehicles.

The government is working towards reducing vehicular emissions. The biggest contributor in carbon emissions are commercial vehicles due to its rigorous use. The government has instructed commercial vehicle owners and users to shift to electric power to reduce a certain level of emissions. DTC has also commissioned electric buses to run within the city limits for reducing the carbon emissions.

The government has plans to initiate intercity travel using electric vehicles. However, one of the major barriers with the operation has been the lack of infrastructure on the Indian highways. The highways in India are catered to the people using ICE-powered vehicles but not electric vehicles. Trial runs from Delhi to Agra and Delhi to Jaipur have indicated the intent of the government of making the highways electric-savvy.

"The two best chemistry options are Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) and Lithium-titanium-oxide (LTO). Even if an LFP chemistry is introduced for electric buses, it must have a liquid-cooled LFP pack capable of charging at a high charging rate. Moreover to further better availability of charged buses, we have to create strong destination charging infrastructure where buses can be fast charged at their respective starting hubs. As a result, in order to establish fast charging infrastructure for intercity electric buses, a liquid cooling technology would be essential. On the other hand, an LTO chemistry could be introduced which would allow high charging rates for buses," said Pankaj Sharma, co-founder and managing director, Log9 Materials.

People are constantly in an attempt to reduce the travel time with less stoppages and higher speeds so as to reach the destination faster. However, charging an electric bus would require approximately five to six hours for the battery to charge in a journey. The lack of infrastructure has more than often been blamed for the slow adoption of EVs.

"E-Mobility stakeholders could not gain confidence of Private BUS operator to buy 'Electric Bus' to operate on intercity routes. Hence entire load of this green transition of surface transport is on government shoulders and State Transport Undertakings (STU) are not in a good health to financially uphold this transition. NHEV has brought Ease of Doing Business for private bus operators in e-mobility and has successfully taken key concerns of their fleet operations like chargers on highways, Road Side Assistance (RSA) during breakdowns and various safety and tracking facilities along with world world-class charging stations to support an initial fleet of 25 e-Busses on the e-highway during the pilot phase and 100 e-Busses over a period of four years on 500 km and 1000 e-busses and total 5000 electric busses to be brought on intercity routes by private bus operators without any dependency on government to buy or operate them," said Abhijeet Sinha, program director, NHEV.

The trial runs are acting as fact finding projects to gather facts that with little spending of around 500,000 per kilometre is sufficient to upgrade a route in e-highway. The trial projects on the Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Agra highways are attempting to determine the optimal size of the battery pack; resolving these issues is how the intercity mobility sector will grow in the near future

"In order to make green intercity delivery a reality, fast charging of EVs is essential. Fast chargers every 10 to 150 kilometres are enough, especially on the main arterial highways of India like national and state highways. Delivery companies will then enable factory-to-home or farm-to-plate concepts more effectively. eHighways, once implemented, will ensure uninterrupted long distance mobility. They will also help reduce transportation or logistics cost, which can be as high at 9-11 per cent for specific categories of goods," said Dr. Amitabh Saran, founder and CEO, Altigreen.

EVs have higher shelf life and with no carbon emissions, the electric vehicles are the way forward with the government encouraging people to buy EVs despite its higher cost of acquisition as compared to ICE-powered vehicles. The government is also providing subsidies on the purchase of electric vehicles which has increased the pull factor of the vehicles.