India is playing a prominent role in implementing electric vehicles. The Boulder, Colo.-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has joined with Indian governmental officials and private industry executives to produce a landmark study entitled, “India Leaps Ahead: Transformative Mobility Solutions for All.”
“India has a historic opportunity to lead the world in transforming its mobility sector,” says RMI CEO Jules Kortenhorst. “The country can combine its entrepreneurial spirit, robust public- and private-sector partnerships, and history of innovation in information technology and manufacturing with the advances in clean energy and transportation technology to drive global mobility innovation. This report provides a clear roadmap to realize the powerful economic, environmental and social benefits these approaches will provide, both to Indian citizens and to those around the globe.”
Q: How would you assess motorist acceptance of electric vehicles on a global basis? Are there particular nations that stand out as prominent EV marketplaces – present or near-future?
A: Global EV sales grew 60 percent in 2015 and 42 percent in 2016, when China sold more EVs than the world sold in 2014, and launched 10-times growth (goals) during 2015 to 2020.
China has surpassed the U.S. in EV sales volume with nearly double the number of EV sales in 2016 at an estimated 360,000 vehicles sold. China is putting large amounts of money behind EV charging infrastructure as well as financial incentives for vehicles. In many cities in China, EVs get special access to priority lanes, expedited registration and are exempt from acquisition and excise taxes.
In India, 85 percent of Indian consumers would ride in fully self-driving cars, compared to 58 percent globally. India has the highest willingness to use shared autonomous vehicles (67 percent), per the same survey; China (62 percent) is second.
Norway, thanks to a robust set of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, pushed EV adoption over 25 percent in 2016.
Q: Are there particular governments that are pushing for more EV acceptance and/or encouraging EV plants to be built among their populations?
A: Yes, both China and India as mentioned. In March 2016, Minister Piyush Goyal set India’s sights on an ambitious target of 100 percent electric vehicles by 2030. Since then the country has seen early signs of the rubber meeting the road in its public and private sectors.
Ola, a domestic cab aggregator, is exploring opportunities to deploy electric cabs in major cities. India’s central government is eyeing an electric fleet. The Department of Heavy Industry revised its staple incentive scheme. And several OEMs are partnering on domestic manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries.
RMI partnered with NITI Aayog, the Indian government’s premier think tank, to publish a report last month laying out the framework for an Indian mobility system that is electric, shared and connected.
India’s “leapfrog” opportunity to create a shared, electric and connected mobility future promises to provide Indians with clean, affordable, efficient and reliable transportation options to support and enhance their daily lives.
Enabling factors set the stage for India to lead the world in advanced mobility services. These factors include India’s dynamic public- and private-sector leadership, entrepreneurial culture, ability to build infrastructure right the first time, and a unique confluence of information technology and manufacturing skills.
This transformation could sharply reduce fossil-fuel costs and import dependency, cut hazardous air and carbon emissions, fuel job creation and homegrown innovation, and support the growth of India’s economy. Initial estimates suggest that shifting to a shared, electric, and connected passenger mobility paradigm may avoid as much as 1 gigaton of carbon dioxide emissions between 2017 and 2030, and $60 billion in annual petrol/diesel costs in 2030.
This bold vision for India’s mobility future and a set of actionable solutions designed to help achieve it were developed by a group of 75 government and industry experts during a charrette co-convened by the Indian government’s premier think-tank, NITI Aayog, and RMI in February 2017 in New Delhi. Following the charrette, NITI Aayog and RMI engaged in a consultative process to formulate a change model designed to accelerate deployment and scale at a pace matched by India’s ambition.
(A charrette is an intensive, interactive and trans-disciplinary working session in which all stakeholders in a system collaborate to conceive, design and develop solutions. A charrette often starts by building a shared understanding among key stakeholders about the biggest opportunities and obstacles. Then participants explore collaborative solutions to overcome barriers and spark action.)
India can achieve a mobility leapfrog by pursuing and integrating opportunities across six core areas: mobility services to support the shift from ownership to usership; electric mobility to provide a clean fleet; EV-grid integration to provide a clean fleet and make the grid more flexible, helping deploy modern renewables; product manufacturing to develop domestic supply; and both mobility-oriented development and interoperable transport data to enable seamless integration and enhanced efficiency. An integrated approach can unlock additional value and drive faster, more balanced scaling.
India is at a critical juncture in its infrastructure, energy and mobility development. While many Western countries have developed a system dominated by private-vehicle ownership and sprawl, India is home to a number of supporting conditions that make it possible to take a different path. The second most populous country in the world, India’s potential to create a shared, electric, and connected mobility system could produce major benefits domestically and globally.
A shared system based on usership, not ownership, can increase utilization and decrease congestion, providing better service and greater access at lower cost. Smarter planning and data ubiquity can allow service providers and travelers to connect seamlessly and efficiently between modes. Shared and connected systems can enhance vehicle economics and propel the deployment of electric mobility, which in turn can reduce tailpipe emissions and cut even more at the source by supporting the integration of renewable energy onto the grid.
India’s current mobility system reflects many of the underlying properties of this new mobility paradigm. These elements include a high share of non-motorized transit, low private-vehicle ownership, a diverse set of mode options and strong IT capabilities. As India continues to develop at a rapid pace, it is essential to maintain and invest in these attributes, as they serve as the foundation of a shared, electric and connected mobility system.
Today, many of the technologies and business models that support this vision are already cost-effective, high-quality and convenient. For example, many hybrid electric vehicle, plug-in electric hybrid vehicles, and battery electric vehicles, which represent a progression of increasing intensity of vehicle electrification, are becoming cost-competitive and can become more so through bulk procurement of their common assembly- and subassembly-level parts.
With collective ambition from stakeholders across the private sector and government, India has the potential to turn this vision into reality and emerge as a global role model in advanced mobility solutions.
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