Green mobility

Green Mobility

Green mobility refers to all those mobility options that emit lower emissions – in terms CO2 g/km than pure Internal Combustion Engine vehicles – through the use of alternate fuels, drive-train technologies or other measures

• Bio-fuel and Methanol based mobility
• Compressed Natural gas (CNG) based mobility
• Electric and Hybrid Mobility (xEV)
• Hydrogen energy and fuel cell based mobility

Benefits from Green Vehicle

Reduce India’s oil dependency:

• The shift from petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles will reduce India’s dependence on oil and the cost of import.NITI Aayog has estimated that India can save up to ₹4 lakh crore by rapidly adopting EVs.

Address the issues of climate change:

• Electric Vehicles would reduce vehicular emissions and will address the issue of air pollution as well as be an end-to-end solution to address the issues of climate change by cutting down greenhouse emissions. India can save 64% of energy demand from the road sector for passenger mobility and 37% of carbon emissions in 2030

Job creation:

• The Government will help establish charging stations to start with and later through franchisee model, create jobs for lakh of entrepreneurs to establish charging stations across the country.

Cheaper in price:

• The electric vehicles will be cheaper and the operating costs will also reduce, which will be an economic incentive for the public to buy the same.

Safety improvements

• Recent findings have shown that several EV features can improve safety. EVs tend to have a lower centre of gravity that makes them less likely to roll over. They can also have a lower risk for major fires or explosions and the body construction and durability of EVs may make them safer in a collision

Tax Breaks

• The central government and some states offer tax credits and deductions for driving green vehicles, which will further reduce the cost of buying such a vehicle

Government Initiatives:

1. In 2013, Government of India launched a National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020. It aims to achieve national fuel security by promoting hybrid and electric vehicles in the country. It targets 6-7 million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles year on year from 2020 onwards
2. FAME I (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (hybrid &) Electric vehicles in India) : The objective of the scheme to support the hybrid or electric vehicles market development and its manufacturing eco-system in the country in order to achieve self-sustenance in stipulated period. It also seeks to provide demand incentives to electric and hybrid vehicles from two-wheeler to buses.
3. Automotive Mission Plan 2026: It aims at making the Indian Automotive Industry among the top three of the world in engineering, manufacture and exports of vehicles & components; growing in value to over 12% of India GDP and generating an additional 65 million jobs
4. Green Urban Transport Scheme: Under this scheme, government aims to launch eco–friendly transportation facilities in urban areas
5. India’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Mission 2030: Government plans to have an all-electric fleet of vehicles by 2030.
6. FAME II scheme: it was scheduled to be launched at the inaugural session of “MOVE”- a global mobility summit in September 2018 but put on hold. There is a shift in the government direction. Rather than spreading it to a pan-India basis, the government now wants to concentrate on creating pilot projects in populated and polluted cities that have a large vehicle base for easy transition. Also, the programme needs to give time to automakers

Scheme will provide incentives based on technology.An inter-ministerial panel including NITI Aayog has decided that subsidies will be provided for all categories of Electric Vehicles (EV) under FAME-II.

7. No permit required:Recently Government announced that no permits would be required for vehicles running on alternative fuel, including CNG, ethanol and EVs
8. Collaboration with other nation:India does not produce lithium or cobalt which is essential for production of lithium-on battery. Government now working to acquire mines in Latin America and Australia. Also India collaborate with Latin American countries to upgrade its technology for production of ethanol.

Progress made:

1. Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a government firm, has put in motion plans to procure 10,000 e-vehicles. EESL aims to lease these vehicles out to government departments so as to replace their existing fleets of petrol and diesel vehicles.
2. The Centre has begun pilot projects in this regard, having already installed 25 charging stations in Bengaluru, and planning to expand this to other metros.
3. Fortum India inaugurated a 22 KW AC charger on a pilot basis in Delhi, and the company said it was looking to install up to 160 charging stations over a year in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The parent company FortumOyj also signed an agreement with government-owned NBCC (India) to bring cloud-based back-end infrastructure for electric vehicles to India.
4. Reliance Energy is working on a third-party business model to provide charging station facilities for electric two-wheelers and four-wheelers in public places, parking plazas near highways, and offices and malls.
5. Maharashtra has a policy which aims to make the State’s transport system go electric by 2030 and create five lakh jobs with a ₹25,000-crore investment.
6. Recently, Andhra Pradesh CM flagged off an eco-friendly battery car at Mangalagiri in Guntur district. The vehicles are being launched by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC), the Mahindra Electric and the Zoomcar.

Challenges in adopting green vehicles in India:

1. Lack of clarity on Government strategy for green mobility: The Draft National Auto Policy highlights that Policies and announcements by different government ministries and supporting bodies in the recent past are not aligned on the green technologies
2. Low demand: Large-scale adoption of green mobility options is limited by consumer concerns regarding technical performance of vehicles, reliability and dependability, limitation on range and refuelling options, higher upfront costs etc
3. Limited Infrastructure: Current public infrastructure for Electric Vehicles is limited to cities and selected clusters.
4. Limited supply of vehicles and components: Manufacturing capacity in India for electric vehicles is much lower than that of USA and China.
5. Funding constraints: There are financial limitations in the automobile industry. Electric vehicles have high initial capital cost. For example: Batteries for electric vehicles are 40-50% more expensive than regular ones and India is dependent on imports from China

NITI Aayog Recommendations:

1. NitiAayog recommends that to push EVs, the government must subsidize the EV industry while penalizing conventional cars.
2. It calls for lowering taxes and interest rates for loans on EVs while limiting the sale and registration of conventional cars, and using taxes from diesel and petrol car sales to create electric charging stations.
3. It also suggests the government open a battery plant by the end of 2018.

Draft National auto Policy

1. It seeks to rollout a comprehensive long-term (10 year) roadmap that will define the emission standards applicable after BSVI with a target of harmonizing with the most stringent global standards by 2028, across all vehicle segments.
2. Introduce a composite criterion based on length and CO2 emissions to classify vehicles for taxation
3. Adopt reduction in CO2 through Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations
4. Define a roadmap for harmonizing key standards and testing methods with global benchmarks
5. Define a list of target technologies in the areas of green mobility, emission control, safety etc. With corresponding components and equipment that will be eligible for import duty reduction
6. Conduct a detailed study on requirement of public infrastructure for Green Vehicles to determine the quantity, density and mix of green mobility infrastructure required in the country as per target adoption plans.
7. It also proposes creation of a nodal body with a two-tier structure having an Apex Body supported by the National Automotive Council (NAC).

International Best   Practices

China:

China has focussed on the use of electric buses as a catalyst for EV penetration. It is the largest electric bus manufacturer in the world, with most in use in the country. In 2016 about 80,000 electric buses were added to China’s roads.

Netherlands:

The Netherlands has captured the EV market using a simple yet well-crafted strategy of creating charging infrastructure and encouraging investment in charging technology by providing incentives to EV buyers. Netherlands has the densest charging infrastructure in the world and is a major exporter of this technology.

Steps to be taken

1. Consumer awareness of the benefits of electric vehicles along with incentives for purchase in the initial years is important to boost adoption.
2. India should reduce dependence on imports for electric vehicles and components by developing the domestic supply eco-system
3. There is a need to improve infrastructure facility- Better charging facilities, efficient electric transmission infrastructure. State and city-level players need to be involved so as to address several technical and infrastructural needs.
4. The automotive industry, government and various stakeholders need to collaborate and invest for achieving India’s target for green mobility
5. Green Urban Transport scheme should be implemented effectively. India should first target making public transport green and then target private cars