Very high costs and investment barriers make it tough for electric vehicles to compete with mainstream technologies of petrol and diesel. Electric vehicles are still a low volume segment — with only 1.3 per cent market penetration in India and about 3 per cent globally. More refined strategies that are evolving globally for quicker uptake of these vehicles are not in India yet and steps China alkaline battery AAA/AM4 Factory are uncertain. This is evident in the ill-designed policies to promote electric mobility so far. When the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) analysed the FAME programme (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicle) to promote electro-mobility, it found that during 2015-16, close to 60 per cent of the incentive meant for electric vehicles went to diesel mild hybrids.
These hybrids are only 7-15 per cent more fuel-efficient than polluting conventional diesel models.This incentive should have been spent on electric vehicles and infrastructure. Public criticism led to a hurried amendment to disqualify mild diesel hybrids from incentives under this programme. This clearly shows that the electric mobility programme needs to be designed well to avoid unintended consequences and provide clearer market signals for product and market development. But not many are convinced about the electro-mobility programme itself. There are worries about higher emissions from coal power generation to meet the demand of increased electricity. There is also the high cost of transition, and environmental contamination from battery disposal and car-based growth, even if electric.Electric-mobility is a paradigm shift from internal combustion engines.
The world is waiting to cut emissions and fuel guzzling and India cannot avoid doing the same. It is true that fully battery-operated electric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions on the road, but their lifecycle emissions are determined by the source of power generation, which in India is mainly coal, and coal is the dirtiest form of power generation compared to hydro and renewable energy.The intensity of the life cycle emissions of electric vehicles can be reduced substantially if grid power is cleaned up with more renewable energy infusion aligned with India’s post-2020 climate action plans. The advantage of electric vehicles is that the energy source of electricity can change flexibly if renewable energy expands. About 15 per cent of India’s power is from hydro while renewable power generation is expanding to meet the ambition of 22,000 MW. Similarly, the infrastructure for disposing of batteries has to expand to make it safer. This problem is not unique to electric vehicles. Even today all vehicles are saddled with batteries that need periodic replacement and disposal. Cities will have to implement Battery Disposal and Management Rules of the Central Pollution Control Board — with or without electric vehicles.
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