Comprehensive study on electric vehicles strategy for the Indian market

Abstract

Electric vehicles are the need of the hour with environmental pollution levels at an all-time high. Various measures are being taken to curb air pollution. Pollution from vehicles forms a major chunk of this and it is high time to introduce measures to curb pollution. In this report, we look at the Commercial Electric vehicles scenario and have prepared a comprehensive report for a better understanding of the sector. There are 3 types of EV – Hybrid, Plugin, and Pure Electric. There are various pros and cons of an electric vehicle over an Internal combustion engine. There are several challenges for an EV like higher cost, higher weight, lesser range, etc. But economies of scale and technology can help reduce the higher cost which can only be realised when the commercial EV is adopted widely. Governments have been taking up measures and policies like FAME II to make the commercial EVs more attractive and stimulate demand. In this report, we also have tried to understand the policies taken up by various other countries leading in the EV revolution and how it has shaped the market now. Apart from these, we have also identified the drivers of the commercial EV market. We also conducted two surveys – one for understanding the consumer perception and the other for willingness to buy commercial EV by fleet owners. From the survey results, we could understand that India is a long way to introduce commercial EV trucks but has made significant progress in electric buses. Several state governments have pushed for this initiative and have given orders to purchase and operate electric buses. To further substantiate the benefits of an electric bus, we formulate a model for the total cost of ownership for an electric bus and a diesel bus and found that the lifetime costs of an electric bus are lower. Adoption of electric buses is underway in many countries, however technology for making an electric feasible is not yet available. Research has begun to pick up the pace and the higher attention towards the environment may speed up the adoption of commercial EVs.