Electric Vehicles In India Backed By Rs 10,000 Crore Investment

Electric vehicles (EV) in India have been witnessing extensive support from major automotive brands and various government bodies in the last couple of years. Even though India's electric-vehicle portfolio has still got a long way to be on par with foreign countries, there is enough push to make it happen in at least two decades.

Now, the Indian government is planning to invest around Rs 10,000 crore for three years in the second phase of 'Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India' scheme or what is commonly known as 'FAME II'. The project will be initiated from April 2019 with a backing of Rs 3,300 crore per year; an eight-fold increase compared to FAME I which had an investment of Rs 795 crore per two years.

As mentioned before, a lot has happened in the field of electric mobility in India, lately. Major EV brands in India such as Mahindra Electric and Ather Energy have become increasingly popular and desirable, thanks to the country's growing interest in EVs — catch the latest news on electric vehicles in India here.

Various initiatives such as making EVs toll-free, easier loans, tax reductions, better battery chemistry, etc., were introduced to ensure a smooth shift from fossil-fuel power to cleaner and efficient green mobility. Furthermore, the country will be getting more electric vehicle charging stations as well.

One main challenge faced by electric vehicles is its charging time. Despite manufacturers making efforts to increase the range of electric vehicles on a single charge, they still couldn't pioneer the technology to bring charging times 'considerably low'.

For instance, the average time to fill up a petrol/diesel-powered vehicle from empty is around 5-10 minutes (excluding the waiting time). However, even the most popular and advanced electric vehicles take a minimum of 40 minutes to attain 80 per cent charge.

As a workaround to this, concerned officials are discussing the feasibility of 'battery-swapping' rather than charging at the dedicated stations. If a proper infrastructure plan is laid, this could be made possible.

Thoughts On The Growing Electric Vehicle Market In India

Electric vehicles occupy only a minute proportion of the overall automotive sales in the country. Even though the idea of electric mobility makes sense in a busy and polluted urban environment, we hope that it will forever stay as an interesting alternative to fun-to-drive ICE cars and not as their replacement. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.