Am sure, this would be a question running among many of your minds – of why this urgency and why should India really drive the electric mobility revolution with such a vigor.
Well this article attempts to answer that question precisely.
Indian Automotive Industry
The above slide is one of my favorite ones that captures the snapshot of complete Indian auto industry including the auto component market. I often update the data in the above slide and it is very evident from it that Indian Automotive Industry despite the recent slow down we have witnessed, is one of the strongest industries and is a focal point of the Government right after agriculture and defence.
And the Industry is bound to grow in the coming years too. Be it TATA’s acquisition of Jaguar, Mahindra’s majority share holding of Ssangyong, Peugeot, Pininfarina and the recent acquisition of Norton – A UK based motor cycle company by TVS Motors stand as tall testimonials of the aggressive growth displayed by our Indian born OEMs.
By God’s grace, I had the opportunity to intern with TATA Motors, begin my career with TVS Motors and spend a 2 year stint with Mahindra & Mahindra :). Having worked and closely watched the leadership of all these groups I am sure the growth spree would only continue to raise but never calm down.
Problems that cant be ignored
While we can’t but appreciate the exceptional growth of Indian Auto Industry as well as the rest of the manufacturing sectors, we cannot at the same time ignore the problems we are facing now.
Pollution
- 14/15 most polluted cities in the world are in India
- Kanpur has 2.5PM (Particulate Matter) at alarming levels of 170 mgs/ Cub.mt Vs WHO standards of 10 mgs/Cub. mt
- Transport Sector alone contributes to 30% of the pollution
- India’s energy import bill to double from 150 bn. USD to 300 bn. USD by 2030.
Paris UNFCC Agreement 2015
While all the above mentioned reasons are internal reasons we also have an external influence or obligation to work towards reducing our carbon emissions.
Yes, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) that happened at Paris in 2015, India signed an agreement as part of its commitment.
Among different commitments we made, below is the most relevant point to our context
To reduce the emissions intensity of our GDP by 35% from 2005 level until 2030
Electrification of Mobility an ardent and trivial choice
Now the above point is a tricky obligation. We have committed to bring down the carbon emissions by ~ 35% to the numbers registered in 2005 by the time we reach 2030. For an emerging economy like India, we can’t afford to go down or slow on our Industrial output. Our manufacturing and industrial output continue to remain as strong growth aspect to India. And in this context, the only low hanging fruit that we have, which almost contributes to 30% to the pollution is Transport Sector.
Thus, invariably Electrification of mobility / transport sector becomes the focal point which solves major problems mentioned above along with our up keeping of Paris 2015 agreement.
Opportunity that cant be missed
While so far, we looked at different reasons and obligations for us to transit to electric mobility, there is also a blessing in disguise in this move.
Lets understand how the world has tackled this issue and progress in their electrification of mobility to find out how this could be a great opportunity to India.
The above chart explains on how the EV market evolved over the last 6 years in different parts of the world.
It is very interesting to note that though Norway has already reached 45% of new car sales to EVs – its volumes are less compared to that of China. on the other hand, China with 2.3 Mn electric vehicles in 2018 which has grown 100% YoY since 2016 only penetrate to < 10% of its market share.
The sheer volume of Electric vehicles that China is producing and releasing into the market is insane and if only there is any market in the world that could counter such huge volumes and stand strong to the Chinese market and monopoly is – INDIA.
India missed the Industrial revolution in the past and we cant afford to miss the electric mobility revolution now.
Focusing on Electric mobility at this point will help us
Fight Pollution
Reduce our dependency on oil imports
To emerge as market leader
Hence, India embracing the electric mobility revolution is the right thing to be done and I wish and hope to see India emerge as the Electric Vehicle Market Leader, and emerge as a global supplier in the coming days.
I welcome your views and opinions in the comment section and will write my next article as per your comments.
About the Author:
He is the first one to launch deliveries through Electric Vehicles in India for his customer – IKEA in 2018 from the city of Hyderabad and made the deliveries through EV’s a commercially viable project despite all odds.
He is actively leading the Electric Mobility revolution in India by closely engaging with Government, policy makers, think tanks, industry leaders, start ups and all the ecosystem shareholders.
– Rajeev YSR
