India's E-Mobility Transition Shifting Consumer Preferences and Speed Breakers Ahead

In this article, Anita Khuller discusses the targets and challenges for the implementation of e-mobility in India. She talks about various policy initiatives as well as the ways in which various states and cities in India are planning to promote and introduce electric vehicles in the country on a larger scale.

- Anita Khuller

India is currently the fifth largest car market globally. The transport sector contributes an estimated 142 million tonnes of CO2 annually, of which 123 million tonnes are from the road transport segment alone. The anticipated growth in passenger vehicle usage will lead to a rise in the demand for fossil fuels, other adverse environmental impacts (air pollution), and increased oil imports. One of India’s plans to reduce pollution levels as per the Paris Climate Agreement is to introduce electric vehicles (EVs) in a big way.

There were 10 million electric cars on the world’s roads at the end of 2020. Electric car registrations increased by 41 per cent in 2020, despite the pandemic-related worldwide downturn in car sales, in which global car sales dropped by 16 per cent. Around 3 million electric cars were sold globally (a 4.6 per cent sales share), and Europe overtook the People’s Republic of China as the world’s largest EV market for the first time.

The resilience of EV sales in the face of the pandemic rests on three main pillars—supportive regulatory frameworks, additional incentives to safeguard EV sales from the economic downturn, and expansion of the number of EV models and lower battery costs.

Policy Initiatives

India too has made tremendous policy changes to meet its EV goals. It is a participant in the EV30@30 Campaign, which aims for the sales share of EVs to reach 30 per cent by 2030 among the participating countries.