Do Electric Cars Make Sense In India?

India needs to walk before it runs. So instead of going electric overnight, which will be a nightmare for Indian consumers, we need to go hybrid

- P Tharyan

It’s almost like an idea that has gone viral. Everybody is talking about electric vehicles- the government, the auto industry, common people and even the world around us. We are getting to see electric vehicles in the commercial 3-wheeler space, e-rickshaws and to some extent in the electric scooters and electric buses space.

On the part of the government, it has finally approved the FAME India Phase II for e-mobility. FAME stands for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase II. It has got a total outlay of Rs 10,000 crore over three years beginning April 2019. FAME I just had an outlay of Rs 895 crore.

Environment pollution is the main focus and in order to improve that we have got to have electric vehicles. The focus of FAMI II will primarily be on encouraging 2 wheelers in private sector, and 3 and 4 wheelers in the commercial vehicles segment. Then of course FAME II talks about setting up charging stations across the country in a gird of at least 3x3 kms, maybe around 2700 such stations all over the country in cities, towns, highways, hilly areas etc.

This adoption is not going to be easy at all. As of today, it looks like an uphill task in India at least. Let’s talk about the ground realities. What is this fuss all about? It’s all about environment. The air we breathe is getting more and more noxious and contributing to that mess are automobiles that run on petrol and diesel with their internal combustion (IC) engines. A lot of countries all over the world have pledged to put an end to IC engines in the next few years beginning 2020 onwards. India too has an ambitious plan, but then only time will tell whether this plan will work or not.