India’s drive towards electric mobility solutions on the right path, say experts

India is taking the right path towards electric mobility solutions in terms of policy, preparedness and capabilities to have an independent EV industry. The government is also willing to consider further extending the incentives for the EV industry. With all the stakeholders working jointly, it is possible to enhance EV penetration in India and also address the critical issues of an EV-friendly infrastructure and of energy storage.

Earlier today, at the International Transportation Electrification Conference (iTEC 2015) held in Chennai, a panel discussion organised by Autocar Professional on ‘Building a Sustainable Electric Mobility Industry in Emerging Markets (Like India)’ saw key speakers from the industry strike up a lively debate on the subject. They comprised Thalavai Venkatesan, Head of Engineering & Systems Engine Systems, Continental Automotive (India), Brian Murray of General Motors, Dr Tapan Sahoo, vice-president, Maruti Suzuki and Dr Tomy Sebastian, director, Motor Drive System, Halla Mechatronics, who discussed the methodology and way ahead for a sustainable EV industry. The panel discussion was moderated by Autocar Professional’s  associate editor Sumantra B Barooah.

In his opening presentation, Maruti Suzuki’s Tapan Sahoo touched upon five Es – environment, enablers, efficiency of systems, education of customers and energy and enthusiasm – for building a sustainable EV industry in India. He also said that the goal of making EVs successful would take 7-10 years. Developed markets like the US, Europe and Japan have been working towards this for over 2-3 decades and then tasted success.  India has many challenges and will need all the stakeholders to come together to remove the bottlenecks.

Sharing OEMs’ perspective on the topic, GM’s Brian Murray emphasised on customers, environment, industry at large and government initiative to make sustainable electric mobility happen in India. “Sustainability is underpinned by these four pillars and the need is to make all these pillars successful,” he said.  

Bringing in a Tier 1 supplier’s perspective, Continental India’s Thalavai Venkatesan said  market drivers of hybrids and EVs will be reduction of pollution and eco-friendly trends.

Halla Mechatronics’ Dr Tomy Sebastian said sustainable mobility has two parts – firstly building an electric mobility industry and secondly how to make it sustainable.  

Answering queries from the sizeable audience on the measures needed to be taken by the Indian government to facilitate a sustainable EV industry,  most of the panellsts agreed that government policy is in the right direction. They lauded the government’s efforts in framing the FAME policy which is well thought and deliberated and tries to address all the key issues confronting the EV industry in India.

Speaking on Maruti Suzuki’s plan towards bringing in electric drive in the country, Tapan Sahoo said that the company’s philosophy since inception is to roll out fuel efficient vehicles. The EV drive is yet another initiative in the same eco-friendly direction.

Answering a question on bringing in economies of scale by having uniform standards for EVs, GM’s Murray said that OEMs actually struggle with this. As technology merges and competition increases, it is important to develop new technologies but doing that across every aspect of the vehicle is extremely expensive and time consuming. So having standardised sets of components or systems in vehicles greatly improves the OEM’s ability to get to the market faster and in turn helps component suppliers as they derive greater volumes.

Halla Mechatronics’ Dr Tomy Sebastian however differed from this point of view, saying that manufacturers like General Motors and Tesla will come up with their own specs which will become the standard in the industry instead of going ahead with a standardized approach.

The panelists were of the consensus that there continue to be challenges around the subject of storage of energy in EVs. 

More from iTEC 2015:

- India to produce sufficient electricity to drive vehicle electrification

- iTEC 2015 opens in Chennai, lays roadmap for electromobility in India