“After 2020 and till 2025, expect 80% plus two-wheeler EV adoption growth in India. Industry has seen a good pace of growth,” says Anil Srivastava, Adviser (Transport) and DG, DMEO at NITI Aayog.
One of the panelist at the Autocar Professional webinar, ‘EVs: Pain or Gain Ahead?’, it also featured other eminent industry stakeholder. The webinar touched upon all the key issues with regards to the EV eco-system and the industry prospects in the post-Covid scenario as social distancing becomes the new normal.
Here is a look at the other key panelists.
-Anil Srivastava, Adviser (Transport) and DG, DMEO, NITI Aayog
-Mahesh Babu, MD and CEO, Mahindra Electric and Chairman, Electric Mobility Group, SIAM
-Sullaja Firoda Motwani, Founder and CEO of Kinetic Green
-Sohinder Gill, DG, SMEV and CEO of Hero Electric
-Nishant Arya, ED, JBM Group
According to the Bloomberg NEF assessment, globally, the passenger EV sales jumped from 450,000 in 2015 to 2.1 million in 2019. It is expected to drop in 2020 before continuing to rise as battery prices fall, energy density improves, more charging infrastructure is built, and sales spread to new markets.
Srivastava cites the latest Bloomberg NEF outlook report reveals that “the adoption of electric vehicles will be much faster in Europe, US, China and many other nations in comparison to India.” He explained that though Covid-19 will delay some of these, by 2022 there is expected to be over 500 different EV models available globally.
Srivastava, who held several key leadership positions across the sectors including aviation and electric mobility added that while Covid-19 has come as a severe blow to the entire automotive industry, its impact on electric vehicles will be much lesser. Referring to the latest available data, Srivastava pointed out that the number of EVs picked up between March and May, 2020 constitute nearly 20 percent of the total sales registered last year. According to Srivastava, "The situation should be seen from the perspective of an opportunity."
Is modification of FAME II a necessity?
Srivasatava believes that the three-year period of FAME II is adequate for its implementation provided the Ministry of Heavy Industries, which is executing the project, gets the budgetary allocation required for its implementation.
When asked for his opinion whether there may be modifications to the FAME-II guidelines, Srivastava offered his personal opinion and reiterated that there is strong demand for FAME on the supply side and any changes can be brought only if a need is felt in that direction.