Is The Future Electric?
Our government has been working to promote electric cars for years in an effort to become more environmentally friendly. Therefore, it might surprise most people that only 8000 electric vehicles were sold in the nation over the last six years. Given that we sell tens of thousands of conventional vehicles each month, that is a really pitiful number.
Moving Ahead
Well, everyone agrees that infrastructure is the most obvious factor. In fact, research from last year claimed that if India had the necessary infrastructure—a kind of national charging grid—close to 90% of all automobile owners would be eager to switch to electric vehicles. Being unsure of the source of this data I believe this number might be a little deceiving. If they questioned who would be willing to go electric and at what cost, a more pertinent study would be available. Because of this, even if the nation made the necessary investments to set up a charging grid, I doubt many people would be ready to pay the exorbitant sum required to match the EV price tag. For instance, there was a lot of hope when Hyundai unveiled its first electric vehicle, the “Kona,” this year. However, excitement swiftly gave way to disappointment when individuals learned how much the item cost. This car is a luxury one with an on-road cost of about 25 lakhs. It’s like attempting to purchase three mid-range vehicles when the majority of people still cannot afford even one.
Are we prepared?
There is also another issue to consider. Large automakers who might be able to lower the price of electric vehicles simply lack the incentives to do so. They have been making large expenditures in building a pipeline to produce BS-VI-certified engines for the past few years. These are more environmentally friendly options than the ones that are currently on the market. Additionally, given the extent of these investments, businesses would like to see a reasonable return on the capital (money) invested. They will therefore want to avoid attending this party for at least the next five years. Of course, the infrastructure and related charging grid are the last cautionary note. Who will provide the funding? For instance, the Chinese government has invested about $60 billion over the past few years to support the ecosystem. Does the Indian government have sufficient discretion to spend this much money? I’m not certain. I can assure you that an EV revolution won’t be taking place anytime soon. This one will require some time to come. Hopefully, it won’t be too late at that point.
