Commercial viability of electric vehicles in India

E-Vehicles are poised to cause a major disruption in the automobile as well as the energy industry across the globe. This disruption is propelled by powerful purpose of creating a greener, safer and sustainable planet. Over 194 participating countries in the historical Paris climate agreement enforced in 2016 pledged to limit the average increase in global temperature to less than 2 degree celsius in this century. The USA, China and India combined together account for a staggering 50% of the world’s Green House Gases (GHGs) emissions. The transport sector of these major economies form the bulk of the emission of GHGs. The USA and China have already promoted the replacement of fossil fuel powered vehicles by e-vehicles and as of 2016 have the highest stock of e-vehicles in the world; however, India is lagging behind its counterparts. Out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, 15 cities are in India. India has pledged to cut down its share of GHGs emissions significantly in order limit the average increase in global temperature. As a result of this, the Indian government has set a target of 100% e-mobility by 2030. India embarked upon its e-vehicle journey in November 2017 by the deployment of 100 e-vehicle units and installation of four charging stations in a city. This paper is aimed to examine the commercial viability of the pilot project and identify the initial roadblocks and its rectifications in order to scale up on pan-India basis. In order to achieve this, the pilot project was studied in detail and interviews and surveys were conducted among all the stakeholders in April-May 2018. While it was found that it is a win-win proposition for stakeholders, major roadblocks in scaling up were found to be - bureaucratic hassles in the setting up of charging stations, high initial investment and waiting time for drivers. The paper also uniquely identifies the charging pattern of the commercial electric vehicles at a particular charging station.