Powering the EV mandate

Public and private sector enterprises have started investing in the ELECTRIC Companies setting up
eco-system for electric vehicles but viability remains an issue RESPONSE EV charging stations
PUBLIC SECTOR:
T E NARASIMHAN business (see table). “Having such full- other locations where vehicles stop – BSES Rajdhani Power,
scale infrastructure would definitely globally, these touch points account for IOC, Hindustan

L
ast week, the GST council cut push the buying decision in favour of 80 per cent of EV charging points. So Petroleum, BHEL,
rate cuts on electric vehicles EVs,” said Maxson Lewis, managing far the only progress here has been a Energy Efficiency Services
(EVs) from 12 per cent to 5 per director, Magenta Power, an EV mobil- suggestion from the power ministry to (EESL), Union housing
cent and on electric chargers from 18 ity solutions provider. state power utilities to facilitate such ministry
to 5 per cent, a clear signal that it pro- What kind of infrastructure is need- private charging points.
poses to forge ahead with its target of ed to achieve the government’s man- The availability of lithium-ion bat- PRIVATE SECTOR:
reducing urban pollution and crude oil date that all three-wheelers and two- teries will also be a critical determi- Tata Power, Ather Energy,
import bill. Both rate cuts will consid- wheelers go electric by 2023 and 2025 nant of EV adoption by consumers. Vakrangee, Magenta
erably narrow the price differential respectively, and others except com- Batteries account for over half an EV’s Power, ABB, Acme
between EVs and petrol and diesel vehi- mercial vehicles, by the year 2030. One cost and, currently, are almost entirely Industries, Fortum India,
cles. EV prices are expected to drop 7 estimate by Nomura Research puts the imported from China. India would
per cent. investment requirement of charging require six plants of 10GWh each by
But narrowing the price differential stations at ~13,000-14,000 crore. 2025 and 12 by 2030 to cater to this Companies getting into battery manufacturing
is just one of the challenges to achiev- Private sector start-ups alone are emerging market. ESTABLISHED PLAYERS: NEW AGE COMPANIES:
ing the government’s grand expected to add 50,000 to Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said Suzuki Motor Corporation, BHEL, Exicom, Greenfuel Energy Solutions,
mandate. The lack of a 60,000 charging stations the objective was to “first work on about Adani, Group, Amara Raja, Exide Trontek, Coslight India, Napino Auto &
robust ecosystem, principal- over the next three years. 80 per cent of components of two and
Industries, Greaves Cotton, Electronics, Trinity Energy Systems and
ly recharging stations, and Their contention is that giv- three-wheelers and buses and also push
domestic battery manufac- en the initial low viability manufacturing of batteries in India". Tata Chemicals Versatile Auto Components.
turing capabilities, could of the business, some sort To this end, the government is likely to
well short-circuit the gov- of viability gap funding issue tenders to set up 50 GWh of bat- of the challenge. As Amara Raja pack assembly capability and looking
ernment’s stiff electric would be in order. In the tery manufacturing in India, which Batteries CEO S Vijayanand points out, at backward integration into cell man-
mobility targets. Most two- TAKE second edition of its electric would attract around $50 billion in only a high level of localisation will ufacturing. Right now, its localisation
wheeler makers — Bajaj
Auto, TVS, Hero and others
TWO mobility policy (known as
FAME 2), the government
investment. “At present India depends
on China for EV parts. However, by
make the business viable. Currently, the
raw material for batteries are not avail-
level is 25-30 per cent at the battery
pack level.
— have been vocal on this ANALYSIS BEHIND says it will allocate Rs 2022, local production of cells will go able in India. Battery chemicals Exercises such as these are, howev-
point. Steffen Knapp, direc- THE HEADLINES 10,000 crore to set up charg- up and even fuel cell might come to account for 30-40 per cent of the costs er, time consuming and unlikely to
tor, Volkswagen Passenger ing stations to both public India,” says a Tata Motors Ltd of a battery pack, and the cell accounts match demand. Yet they are vital to the
Cars, recently said his company doesn't and private sector players. spokesperson. for 25-30 per cent. Even a cell-to-bat- success of the government’s EV plans.
think it possible to be part of India's “As a standalone business, EV charg- One of the Tata group companies, tery assembly plant would improve val- As Vijayanand puts it, “India missed
electrification plan in the absence of ing stations is still a sunrise venture. It Tata Chemicals, has already ue addition by 30-40 per cent. But India the magic of manufacturing consumer
supporting infrastructure. could be the future version of what gas announced that it will set up a 10 Gwh has such annual assembly capacity electronics and we also missed the
Things could be changing now, with stations are today, a money spinner, but plant at Dholera, Gujarat. Several com- worth just 1 Gwh. magic of manufacturing in the renew-
several public sector enterprises, pri- only if investors are willing to wait," panies — established ones and new-age Companies like Amara Raja have, able sector, such as the solar panels, but
vate sector engineering and automobile says a Tata Power executive. start-ups — are venturing into this busi- however, started back-end integration I think if you were to look at EVs, then
companies as well as new-age start-ups Others suggest pushing for low- ness (see table). to accelerate the pace of localisation. as a country we cannot afford to miss
venturing into the EV infrastructure grade charging at home, offices and Setting up local plants is only part The company established a battery the magic of manufacturing.”