The Future is Green and Electric: Naveen Munjal In the current scenario, EVs comprise one to five percent of the total vehicles sold in the country. The growth will be massive and India will take a leap going from one to five per cent to 40 to 50 per cent in the next decade
By Saptak Bardhan •
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Global warming has been a massive environmental threat in contemporary times. The world has witnessed a massive climatic shift. Natural disasters have been on the rise as a result of the change in climate ranging from the Australian Bushfires to the flash floods in Indonesia. The world is collectively moving towards a cleaner world.
Electric vehicles have been on the rise for the last few years. EVs have transformed urban transportation. There has been a dramatic shift in electric mobility. Commuting and delivery have been the markets to be transformed with electric mobility.
"The ecosystem is evolving. There were challenges related to financing, awareness in the market, infrastructure, etc. However, financing has improved, awareness regarding the electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers are at an all-time high. Volumes have begun to fall in place," said Naveen Munjal, managing director, Hero Electric at the EV Ecosystem Conclave.
According to Munjal, there are strong tailwinds from the government. The FAME initiatives were set up to make the electric vehicles affordable due to the highest initial cost of acquisition as compared to an internal combustion engine powered car. Under the FAME II initiative, the government offers a subsidy of Rs 15,000 per kWh of battery. The subsidy will remain active until March 31, 2024. State governments are also coming up with their own initiatives. India already has 18 different state policies for electric mobility.
The environmental factors have been far from ideal in India. The AQI in Delhi are at inhuman levels close to 400 and coupled with Covid, it is a beating on the respiratory system of the human body.
"The price of electric two wheelers is close to the entry level because of the subsidies provided by the government. The total cost of ownership is approximately one-tenth of an ICE-powered vehicle," added Munjal.
He stated the conversion is happening at an extremely fast pace. The market is evolving constantly. Hero electric has already set up approximately 4000 charging stations and aspires to build 40000 charging stations in the next two years.
There are a few challenges related to the supply chains and the demand and supply lag. There are also concerns about the production-led growth. Munjal believes the electric mobility sector will make significant returns.
"The electric mobility sector is in the form of a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is E2W due to the higher concentration of population in the two-wheeler space," stated Munjal.
There has been massive growth in the electric mobility space as the number of units sold has increased. In the current scenario, EVs comprise one to five percent of the total vehicles sold in the country. The growth will be massive and India will take a leap going from one to five per cent to 40 to 50 per cent in the next decade.
Other batteries would be coming in. The hydrogen fuel cell is already a reality. However, the technology would trickle down from the larger vehicles to the smaller vehicles. The market is constantly evolving. The consumer market is approximately 85 percent in India.
Munjal is confident and he believes that the path ahead is green and electric. He highlights India will only go on to grow from its current situation in the electric mobility sector. There is hockey stick growth in the ecosystem which only goes on to prove the market will grow very fast.
