Energetica India Magazine May-June 2021

ELECTRIC VEHICLES 35 energetica INDIA- May-June_2021 less gasoline per mile. Thanks to the cleaner nature of retrofitted vehicles, hybrid retrofits are an ideal transitional technology when transitioning to a fully electric vehicle regime. Regulatory perspectives The importance of retrofitting commer - cial vehicles over passenger vehicles is greater since there is a much greater re- duction in carbon emissions. In the end, the customer benefits from significant operating cost savings. CV conversions, in the 15-50 GVW range, can provide 60 percent or more operating cost savings per km, as well as significant mainte - nance cost savings because the number of moving parts is reduced by one-tenth. Multiple companies, of varying scales, are developing auto components in In- dia for the EV market. However, many of these businesses don’t have access to financing. Furthermore, the government provides no subsidy or incentive for EV retrofitting. The FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Elec- tric Vehicles) scheme, in its current form, is better suited to established OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and does not provide much assistance to small businesses. Finally, policies gov - erning vehicle scrapping and retrofitting should be more specific at the state and federal levels. In India, electrification of EVs is still in its infancy, with charging infrastructure (or the lack thereof) posing a significant bar - rier to EV adoption. As a result, retrofitted EVs can be among the first to enter the market by creating demand for charging, localised components and batteries, service infrastructure and usage pattern analysis, among other things. Future of e-Mobility in India According to Niti Aayog chief executive, Amitabh Kant, at least 22 people, out of a thousand, own a car in India. Alterna- tively, in the United States and the United Kingdom, about 980 and 850 people out of 1,000 own a car, respectively. As the automotive market matures, this huge gap represents a tremendous opportuni- ty for Indian companies to grow. India, however, faces its own, unique, e-mobility problems, which will take its due time to solve. The lack of charging infrastructure, repair and maintenance know-how, alongside consumer tech- nophobia and a large price difference, when compared to ICE vehicles, are all major roadblocks that India still has to resolve. Customers in India would be “followers” of what western countries have already begun to embrace a few years ago. The new scrappage strategy would almost certainly improve PV and CV sales in India, whether IC or EV. Finally, the policy would aid in the relent - less churn of cars, ensuring that we have cleaner and less polluting vehicles on the road. If all of these puzzle pieces fall into place, India has a good chance of becoming a global pioneer in e-mobility in the next ten years.