What is an Electric vehicle? Is India ready for the electric mobility revolution?

Whats is an Electric vehicle?

Electric vehicles (Ev), be it a 4 wheeler, a motorcycle or a scooter is the future of mobility for the world which is already becoming a reality today. Nowadays, there are many manufacturers globally like Tesla and Toyota which are taking the game of ev to the next level. Who would have thought that the Tesla Roadster would have faster acceleration and higher top speed than a Ferrari? Earlier there was the notion that electric vehicles would be too boring in the looks and design but forget this….Tesla has won many design awards and that’s for an Ev!!

Tesla cars

Basically an electric vehicle can be a purely electric one with an electric powertrain getting those horsepower and torque from the battery run motor, or it could be a hybrid having an internal combustion engine as well as mild electronic powertrain.

Advantages of Electric vehicles-

The biggest advantages of driving or riding an Ev is that we would be saving our precious ENVIRONMENT. Pure Evs have zero carbon footprint, i.e it doesn’t produce any harmful gases which the internal combustion have a problem. The next thing is the lower cost of running and maintenance. Taking the example of indigenous manufactured Tata Nexon ev, the running cost is just Rs 1/ Km whereas the same petrol/diesel car has a running cost of Rs 5-6/Km. The quick torque production and acceleration from zero RPM  itself is like a heaven for driving enthusiasts. The DC charging takes only about one and a half hour to charge a entry level Ev giving a range of about 200kms per charge.

Electric vehicles in India-

The Ev culture is taking off slowly but steadily in the Indian market. The government of India had announced a Rs 10000 crore budget for Ev adoption under the phase 2 of FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacture of Electric vehicles) scheme for three years. The Government has even proposed that till 2030, India should switch itself completely to electric mobility. But this is just a proposal and not a strict deadline. There are many subsidies given by the government to promote the Ev culture in India. Automobile companies like Mahindra , Hyundai and Tata motors are doing a great job in terms of electric vehicles by designing such platforms which can be used for internal combustion vehicles and electric powertrains for Ev.

Disadvantages right now-

Apart from all the advantages of ev, there are many things which make the ev technology vulnerable to disadvantages at least in our country.

Right now the technology is too young which makes it costly compared to conventional vehicles. For example, the cheapest 4 door pure ev in India is the Tata Nexon Ev, which costs about 17 lakhs compared to the top model petrol variant costing 10 lakhs. Other manufacturers like Hyundai and MG motors have their evs costing above 20 lakhs. But after some years, when the technology becomes stable and cheap, the overall cost of the vehicle will come down.

Tata Nexon Ev

The next big concern is of the charging infrastructure and the range of the vehicle. Right now our country doesn’t have the proper charging infrastructure like countries like USA ,Europe & Japan. We need to have a proper Grid system for the charging of vehicles. Evs manufactured in India have lower range per charge compared to the global counterparts which is a big disappointment for those who want to go for long drives in  an ev.

Conclusion-

Finally the Ev culture has taking off in India and there will be a time when the technology will become stable and cheap and a common man can afford an Ev. The only thing is we need the constant support of the government as well as the consumer to take the Ev technology in India to the next level. Till then….Happy driving !!!!!!!!!