Convergence from Petrol & Diesel To Electric Based Vehicles – Why India Needs It Badly?

Convergence from Petrol & Diesel To Electric Based Vehicles – Why India Needs It Badly?

With the increase in petrol & diesel prices across the world, the dilemma of governments all over the world is how to sustain and make avail the public transportation facility for such a large population. Electric scooters have got a large market share when it comes to both four wheeler and two wheeler segment. This is because with increasing pollution and awareness among people along with increasing infrastructural support, the proliferation and penetration of electric vehicles will grow bigger and bigger. Also, country like India to curb its pollution levels within its borders needs to follow tough emission norms and needs to provide a positive regulatory environment for electric vehicle industry in coming years ahead.

As far as India is concerned, the e-vehicle market is at a nascent stage. Since most of the private companies are unable to scale up this idea to a larger consumer base. Because of which, the e-vehicle market is now in the behest of the government. In Jan 2018, several cabinet ministers proposed the commercial use of Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO’s) Lithium (Li) ion battery technology for e-vehicles. According to reports, there are 170 million two-wheelers in India currently being used; these vehicles draw out 34 billion liters of petrol every year.

Scooters with lead acid battery have already become a choice of people in metro cities because of its low cost of price; however, recently, lithium-ion powered electric two wheelers have stepped into the arena and are making a greater impact. Even in India the electric scooters with lithium-ion are expected to gain significant market share as its prices are declining heavily and also has more advantages compared to a lead-acid battery based vehicles.

The lithium-ion battery is one of the feasible options for the Indian e-vehicle market. Since the imported fuel is costing the government a lot of money, there’s an increase in demand for alternative fuel. Lithium-ion batteries require three components, namely, cell to battery packaging manufacturing, cell manufacturing and battery chemicals. The batteries require elements like Li, cobalt, manganese, nickel and graphite. Currently, the batteries are imported from Japan and China. The government aims to cut down on this dependence as well, ISRO’s technology has been accepted by the government to manufacture Lithium-ion batteries in India and use them in vehicles.

Few Reasons: Why India Needs To Promote Electric Vehicles -

· Vehicles running based on electricity use electric batteries for propulsions so will not produce any emissions.

· These electric vehicles are way more silent compared to petrol-based vehicles thus will  not cause noise pollution

· Electric vehicles are highly mobile & flexible as they are charged from traditional wall outlets as they have a removable battery too.

· The promotion of the use of Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) will also decrease India’s dependence on oil imports

· All this advantages will bring down the alarming state of air pollution in India especially metro cities like Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and others.

Promising e-vehicles which have hit the Indian market -

§ Manufactured by Okinawa, a Rajasthan-based electric two-wheeler called Praise is powered by a brushless DC motor that takes its juice from either a lead acid battery or a more sophisticated lithium-ion pack. The vehicle takes just one hour to charge, whereas the lead acid battery takes about 6-8 hours.

§ The Twenty Two Motors Flow is another promising electric scooter that can replace your petrol for a two-wheeler. The scooter is powered by a DC motor and a lithium-ion battery that produces 2.8PS of max power and 90Nm of peak torque at 100rpm. The battery takes a 4 hours for a complete charge. Flow comes has a range of 80km and is capable of clocking up to 60kmph.

§ The Ather S340 is another promising electric scooter. The two-wheeler has a 1.92kWh Li-ion battery, giving a range of 60km in economy mode on a full charge. The battery charges up to 80 per cent in just an hour with the aid of a fast charge.

§ Furthermore all these vehicles are well equipped with features such as vehicle charging point tracker, navigation assistance, LED lighting and nearly 7 inch touchscreen instrument panels.

Electric vehicles have been trending in the automobile industry since the beginning of the 21st century. Several tech companies like Tesla have created world-class e-cars and e-buses. Maglev trains in South Korea and Solar Impulse 2, an e-aircraft have revolutionized the industry. These vehicles are just as efficient as normal vehicles and help save the environment from air pollution.

In India, there’s been a multitude wave to adopt newer technologies to create a similarly advanced market ecosystem, as the developed countries. E-vehicles can also change the current situation of many cities like Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Kolkata. E-vehicles are not restricted to cars as there are also buses, rickshaws, aero planes and trains which can run on electricity on massive scale.

E-vehicles can function using different pathways of energy source. These vehicles are equipped with electric motors which help the vehicle to run using the generated electricity. The electricity can either be provided through collector systems or can be self-contained using batteries. Solar panels are also used to run e-vehicles along with an electric generator, which helps in converting fuel to electricity.

Initiatives by the Government till date –

· After the proposal by the ministers to take ISRO’s project into reality. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre an institution under ISRO collaborated with NITI Aayog to transfer its technology to other companies.

·  By doing so the project aims in pushing startups and industries into Li-ion battery manufacturing. These batteries will be used for different purposes of power storage such as in phones, laptops, camera and other portable gadgets.

· The organizations selected 14 Indian companies for this project. The union aims to add 175 gigawatts (GW) to the renewable energy capacity of India by 2020.

· Under the Make in India initiative, the government is also investing in e-vehicle adoption directly in the market. To cut down the overall costs, it supported indigenous companies to build Li-ion batteries.

· The initiative also involves the construction of efficient charging infrastructure, since electric vehicles need charging as their fuel.

· NITI Aayog also proceeded forward with the objective to increase the efficiency of these vehicles by changing the internal chemistry of the batteries to produce more power and use better tyres as well as electric motors.