We are Electric Surplus, Planning to Generate Power via Solar for e-Mobility, says Nitin Gadkar

India is electric surplus country, and is mulling to generate power via solar energy, and other renewable energy sources which have tremendous potential, so power is not a problem for electric mobility (e-mobility), said Nitin Jairam Gadkari.

Gadkari, who is the Minister for Road Transport & Highways (MORTH), Minister of Shipping (MoS), and the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Govt. of India, said that “India is power surplus so the benefits of e-mobility solutions are very much in the interest of the country.”

He was speaking during the 7th Electric Mobility event ‘India e-Mobility Conclave 2020 (IMC 2020)’ organized by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), India’s leading alliance on energy storage & e-mobility. The Virtual Conference was focused on roadmap and outlook for e-mobility in India.

He also felt that, there is strong need to develop import substituting, cost-effective, indigenous, and pollution-free sustainable transportation system in the country and one of the most important solutions is public transport on electricity.

“Presently, we are electric surplus, and we are planning to make generation through solar energy, we have tremendous potential through hydropower, wind power also has substantial potential, so power is not a problem,” the Minister said.

He added that “currently, power is an alternative which is very cheap. We are also making this hydrogen fuel cell technology in this country and now the idea is to make hydrogen fuel cell from biomass. These are the different types of technology available and we must move to those which are indigenous, and we do not need imports.”

He further added “Government approach is to give support to all new technologies but Make In India is equally important. Our priority is particularly for Li-ion batteries. We have already given two mines of Li-ion to private people and expecting outcome soon. For diesel buses, the cost of fuel is Rs 150/km but for e-buses it comes to Rs 50/km, so the capital cost is high, but fuel cost is low. For manufacturers, ‘Make in India’ and ‘Made in India’ is equally important, if you are importing materials from China and other countries and assembling that is not of use. We need to find indigenous solution and that is very important.”

In his keynote address Anil Shrivastava, Mission Director, National Mission for Transformative Mobility & Battery Storage in NITI Aayog said that “Battery and EV will disrupt Indian scenario. E-mobility will be impacted by the pandemic and the demand for e-2W, including petrol and diesel 2Ws has picked up because people have realized that this is going to be the new normal and in that perspective the demand is going up. We have taken steps to improve EV demand, the Ministry of Power and Department of Heavy Industries is working on how to push e-2W and exploring a model that will separate cost of vehicle from the source of its energy i.e. battery. If we separate electric vehicle from battery, the upfront cost will be less and we are encouraging model where battery can be separated be it leasing, swapping so on so we are exploring these options.”

Shrivastava added that “some other positive steps the government has taken is Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have finalized scrapping policy, testing centres should be there and standardization, location for e-chargers have been identified. We are very close to a tipping point in EV adoption.”