Electric vehicles in India (Report)

Report on Electric vehicles. (Year 2022)
Why India needs EV?
Current status of EV market in India.
Government policies & Regulations.
Challenge.
Future Perspective.

1. Report On
ELECTRIC VEHICLE IN
INDIA

2. S.No. Contents Pages
1. Introduction 1
2. Why we need EV? 2-6
3. Current Status of EV in India 7-10
4. Policies and Regulations 10-13
5. Challenges 14-15
6. Future perspective 16
7. References 17

3. 1

INTRODUCTION
As electric vehicle (EV), having one or more electric motors or sometimes
traction motors for propulsion as an alternative to the traditional fossil fuel.
It is very interesting to know that the first EV was made in 1834, which is almost
150 years back. It was built on a non-rechargeable battery that was available at
the time. After the invention of the lead-acid battery, a rechargeable battery-based
EV was possible and was created by David Salomon in 1874.
With this development, by 1886, it became possible to develop commercial
products. Hence, all these developments have popularized EVs in mainstream
automobiles in the global scenario. So, in 1900, of the 4200 automobiles sold in
the United States, 38% were EVs.
EVs will play an important role in moving towards the initiation of green energy
and changing the economy around the world.
EVs can be classified in various ways.
It can be classified in terms of propulsion devices, or energy sources, or even the
energy carriers which are used as medium to transfer energy from energy sources
to propulsion devices.
So based on propulsion systems, EVs can be classified as pure electric vehicle
or hybrid electric vehicle. A pure electric vehicle uses electric motor as a sole
device for propulsion. While an HEV uses both electric motor and IC engine for
propulsion. Popularly pure electric vehicles are also known as EVs while HEVs
are known as HVs.
If we classify the EVs based on energy sources, pure electric vehicle will be
further classified into battery electric vehicle and fuel cell electric vehicle. So, an
HEV uses both liquid fuel and battery as energy source while a battery electric
vehicle uses battery as a sole energy source. On the other hand, a fuel cell electric
vehicle uses both battery and fuel cell as energy sources. A similar classification
can be done based on energy carriers where the energy carrier for battery is
electricity while the energy carrier for a fuel cell is hydrogen.

4. 2

Why we need EV?
It seems that the global population, which is 6 billion currently, if it increases
with the current trend, may become 10 billion by 2050. So, what that means? It
means the vehicles in use may increase from 700 million which was there in 2000
to 2.5 billion by 2050. And if all these vehicles are IC engine-based vehicles then
most likely all the cities will be covered with permanent smog with extreme air
pollution. And this is very drastic in terms of health.
10 Out of the 15 most polluted cities of the world are in India
36% Of NOx emissions in Delhi were due to vehicles.
25% emissions in Delhi were due to vehicles.
So, these numbers are alarming and there is a necessity to think ahead. So what
is the way out? One of the promising solutions is sustainable transport. So, what
is sustainable transport? It means use of low or zero emission vehicles, promotion
of public transport so that very less vehicles will be on the road. Use of more and
more renewable energy sources for charging these zero emission vehicles. It also
means we will be less dependent on fossil fuels which is the large source of air
pollution. So, to better understand the advantages and shortcomings of EV, let us
compare the EVs with other modes of transport. The comparison can be done on
following parameters.
• Energy sources.
• Pollution.
• Energy diversification.
• Efficiencies.
• Capital and operating cost and performance.
Energy sources
Battery if you take the example of a recent battery, say a Lithium-ion battery, the
specific energy and energy density in a Lithium-ion battery is about 75 times
lower than that of petrol and 25 times lower, which means that the same energy.
The mass of the material for a lithium-ion battery would be 75 times that of petrol
and it would require 25 times more volume than petrol. This is a serious limitation
of the battery compared to liquid fuel.
Pollution.
There are various types of pollutants and greenhouse gases which are released as
emission from vehicles and they are the reasons for smog, and air pollution. So,
some of them are particulate matter which is known as PMx. Carbon Monoxide
and carbon dioxide, CH4 which is Methane. NOx gases which are N2O, NO and

5. 3

NO2. VOC which is volatile organic compounds. Total hydrocarbons and SOx
gases which is Sulphur dioxide. Particulate matter are particles released as a part
of combustion cycle. These particles are extremely small in the range of
micrometres. Therefore, they cannot be filtered by human throat and nose and
therefore, it enters the body and affect heart, lungs and brain. These particulate
matters are cancerous in nature and one of the major reasons for causing cancer
due to air pollution. Diesel engine release more PM compared to petrol. PM
particles less than 1 micrometre which is PM10 are very dangerous and if inhaled
can cause severe damage. So, these are clubbed and referred as PM2.5. These
three gases are known as greenhouse gases. Due to the presence of these gases,
the infrared radiations are trapped in the atmosphere. Due to the presence of these
gases, the infrared radiations will be trapped in the atmosphere and cause
greenhouse effect such as climate change and global warming. Carbon Monoxide
is a colourless, odourless gas which is very dangerous for human health. It is
highly poisonous. Large amount of CO2 is released by IC engine based vehicles
which adds to the already present CO2 in atmosphere and thus contributes to
greenhouse effect. NOx gases, VOC and total hydrocarbons are responsible for
building ground level ozone layer. So the ozone layer if it's present in the ground
level is very dangerous for humans. It can create lining in the lungs and cause
major respiratory illnesses such as asthma and lung inflammation. So, diesel
engine is the main source of NOx gases. So, these gases can be filtered using
catalytic converter, but these devices are costly. So, NOx gases can be minimized
by use of urea filters. So, SOx gases which is dominantly SO2, Sulphur dioxide
gas is released by coal based thermal power plants. So, we can say that if
electricity is used in EVs, they are creating more SOx gases in the atmosphere.
So, the Sulphur dioxide gas reacts with oxygen and water present in atmosphere
and creates sulphuric acid in the atmosphere. So, these are the major reasons for
acidic rains. The solution is low Sulphur coal should be used for power generation
which is costly of course.

ICEV EV
Relative Emission 100%
Comparison of pollutants and Greenhouse Gases
COCHNOxSOxPMs

6. 4

Energy diversification.








So, it is interesting to compare energy diversification of different types of
vehicles. IC engine vehicles typically use liquid fuels and gaseous fuels which
are coming from either oil or natural gas. While pure electric vehicle such as
battery electric vehicle and fuel cell electric vehicle use either electricity or
hydrogen as energy carriers. So, if we see the types of fuels and the sources which
are required to generate these fuels, we can clearly see that electricity can be
generated by almost all the energy sources. Therefore, EVs have a definite
advantage compared to IC engine which requires oil and natural gas as its fuel.
Efficiencies.
The use of EV also provides higher energy efficiency. So, if we compare fuel
tank to vehicle efficiency, the battery electric vehicles provide 72% efficiency at
the wheels and the IC engine vehicles provide 16% efficiency at the wheels if you
take the starting source as 100%.
A fairer comparison can be done if we start from the source of energy which is
let's say crude oil. So, if we start with 100% crude oil for both battery electric
vehicle and IC engine vehicle, we can see that the efficiency on the wheels is 18%
for battery electric vehicle and 13% for the IC engine-based vehicles. The major
loss in calculation of battery electric vehicle efficiency happens in power
generation. It is only 36% for a typical thermal power plant. While the major loss
component in the efficiency of IC engine-based vehicle is very inefficient engine
efficiency which is only 20%. So, the overall efficiencies of battery electric
vehicle and IC engine-based vehicles are comparable. But battery electric vehicle
has few advantages such that energy can be recovered during braking as
regenerative power. Secondly it can be charged using renewable power which is
OIL
Natural Gas
Coal
Renewable

OIL
Liquid Fuel
Gasolines Fuel
Electricity
Hydrogen
ICEV
Hybrid EV
Battery EV
Fuel Cell EV

7. 5

pollutant free. So, let's compare EVs with ICEV in terms of capital cost and
performance.

Image Source: - http://www.nesea.org
Capital and operating cost and performance.
So, battery electric vehicle have higher fuel economy compared to IC engine
based vehicles but they are more expensive because of higher initial battery cost,
and the requirement of battery replacement after few years. The BEV requires
less maintenance. It's more reliable. As we mentioned it can recover energy
during braking. It is also less noisy. Battery electric vehicle also allows high
performance control. On the negative side, BEV requires continuous charging,
and they have a limited range per charge. So, this is a cause of concern, and it
causes range anxiety among customers. BEV can be charged using renewable
energy sources such as solar. Also, for the same energy requirement, BEV
requires more space and is heavier.

8. 6


Image Source: - https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Why should India go for EV?
✓ India needs to reduce dependency on a fossil-fuel based economy. India's
crude oil imports for 2014-15 was 112 billion dollars (approximately 7,00,000
crore rupees)
✓ Aspects related to global warming needs a shift to automobile solutions that
reduces/ do not produce greenhouse gas emissions.
✓ Air Quality Indices related to India indicate that the air in many cities of India
is no longer healthy. Automobile related pollution has been one of the causes
for this
✓ India can become a global provider for clean mobility solutions and processes
that are affordable and scalable.
✓ People living in some of the Indian cities are being affected by noise pollution.
Some of the Indian cities have the worst noise pollution levels in the world.
Electric vehicles may contribute to a reduction in noise pollution levels in the
cities.

9. 7

Current Status of EV in India
World's alarming for rising pollution and the extinct of fossil fuels, India has
delayed started replacing their alternate way of mobility.
• Presently in India, the EV market shares are about 1% of total vehicle sales in
which 95% of shares in electric two-wheelers vehicle sales.
• Govt. of India offered 1100 Cr to TATA Motors Ltd for manufacturing around
10,000 electric cars to inhibit the pollution problems in the cities.
• Govt. of India started FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacture of Electric
Vehicles) and also National Electric Mobility Mission policies for increasing
the sales and production of EVs in India.
• Government has also a target to turning all 3-wheelers vehicles to run on
batteries by 2023, and similarly, 2-wheelers are aimed at by 2025.

Sales Trends – India
In Q1 2022, sales of EVs increased by 40% from previous quarter’s sale
to register 1,92,780 units. This Q-o-Q increase in sales was
comparatively small when compared to the Q-o-Q surge in sales of
46% from Q3 2021 to Q4 2021. The Q1 2022 sales however witnessed a
steep rise of 199% from the same quarter in 2021 i.e., Q1 2021.

Figure 3.1: Registered EV sales in India: Trend (Q1 2021-Q1 2022)
Source: Vahan Dashboard, Telangana State RTO, JMK Research Note: From Vahan Dashboard,
sales figures represent EVs registered across 1,397 RTOs in 33 states/ UTs; Sales data do not
include numbers for Andhra Pradesh, Lakshadweep, and Madhya Pradesh

10. 8

Among all the states and UTs, Uttar Pradesh had the maximum registered EV
sales (15%) in Q1 2022 followed by Maharashtra (14%), Karnataka (10%),
Tamil Nadu (9%), and Delhi (7%). The top 3 states this quarter were Uttar
Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka same as in Q4 2021.

Figure 3.4: Region-wise Registered EV sales in India in Q1 2022
Source: Vahan Dashboard, Telangana State RTO, JMK Research Note: From Vahan Dashboard,
sales figures represent EVs registered across 1,397 RTOs in 33 states/ UTs; Sales data do not
include numbers for Andhra Pradesh, Lakshadweep, and Madhya Pradesh; Others include Kerala,
Odisha, and rest other 22 states/UTs.

11. 9

Electric Two-Wheeler (E2W) Sales Trend


Note: Sales figures represent HS-E2W (E2W with speed of more than 25 kmph) registered across
1,377 RTOs in 35 states/ UTs

Electric Three-Wheeler (E3W) Sales Trends
The combined sales of both passenger and cargo (registered) E3Ws in Q1
2022 (62,317 units) witnessed a slight Q-o-Q increase of 3.91% over the Q4
2021 sales. This was very low in comparison to the 45% Q-o-Q increase in
Q4 2021 over the Q3 2021 sales. The passenger-type E3W accounted for
87% of the total E3W sales for Q1 2022.On a yearly basis, the combined
sales of both passenger and cargo (registered) E3Ws in FY2022 recorded an
increase of 102% over sales in FY2021.
Electric Car (E-Car) Sales Trends
In Q1 2022, the total sales of electric cars increased by 75% as compared to
the previous quarter, clocking 10,274 units. In this quarter as well, Tata
Motors continued to have the maximum share (95%), followed by MG
Motor (2%), with the remaining players accounting for only 3% of the
overall sales. On a yearly basis, the E-Car sales registered an increase of
275% in FY 2022 over FY2021 sales.
In terms of individual player sales, Tata Motors witnessed an increase in
sales of 89% this quarter while MG Motor’s sales dipped by almost 62% as
compared to last quarter. Sales of MG Motor in March were impacted by the
supply chain constraints due to the new COVID-19 variant and the ongoing Source:Vahan Dashboard, JMK Research

12. 10

global semiconductor chip shortage. The positive news however is that its
ZS EV registered 1,500 bookings just within March. Mahindra Electric
Mobility’s sales, on the other hand, increased by over 100% Q-o-Q but were
still below 70 units.
Electric Bus (E-Bus) Sales Trends
E-Bus sales in Q1 2022 experienced a dip as compared to previous quarter,
clocking 335 units in sales, signifying Q-o-Q dip of ~2% compared to Q4
2021.On an annual basis, the E-Bus sales witnessed a jump of 220% in
FY2022 over sales in FY2021. For the quarter, PMI Electro Mobility led the
E-Bus sales while Tata Motors witnessed a huge dip in its sale compared to
last quarter. PMI Electro Mobility accounted for 46% of the sales this
quarter, followed by Olectra Greentech (33%), and JBM Auto (19%).


Policies and Regulations
For the development of e-mobility ecosystem pan-India, the FAME scheme has
been the most significant policy driver. Alongside this central scheme, there are
several states and UTs that have introduced EV policies which promote, to a great
extent, the incentivization for traditional 2W consumers to shift to electric
Central-Level Policy Updates
This quarter witnessed the worst nightmare the E2W industry could have thought
about – the EV fires. However, on the hindsight, announcement of various
production-linked incentives (PLI) schemes during the last few months and the
announcement of their winners this quarter is expected to build a robust local
ecosystem. Successful implementation of these schemes can have long-term
benefits in creation of a localised EV supply chain to meet our electrification
targets
• Fire Incidents: The last couple of months, since the onset of summers, have
witnessed nearly 6 fire incidents in India. The OEMs involved include
experienced players like Okinawa, Jitendra EV Tech, and Pure EV to the newer
entrants like Boom Motors and the Company with number one E2W sales in the
month of April, Ola.
o Government Action: The government of India has ordered an inquiry into the
increasing number of incidents of fire in electric two-wheelers and has sought a
report within a month as concerns rise over customer safety and vehicle

13. 11

robustness. The Road Transport Ministry asked the Centre for Fire Explosive and
Environment Safety (CFEES) to investigate the two cases. CFEES is the defence
laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
o OEMs’ Action: Following Nitin Gadkari’s announcement that mandatory
recalls and stiff penalties would be the norm for organizations associated with
scooter fires, the following recalls were initiated:
o Okinawa Autotech has issued a recall of 3,215 units of its electric scooter
Okinawa Praise Pro. Okinawa has recalled these electric scooters to check and
fix any issues related to batteries
o Pure EV also issued a recall of 2,000 units of its Etrance and Epluto 7G range
of scooters following the fire accidents in Nazimabad and Chennai.
o Ola announced that it would be recalling 1,141 units of its S1 Pro model that
are a part of the batch that caught fire last month.
• PLI Schemes’ Winners: The quarter witnessed the announcement of winners
of two Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes – PLI scheme for Automobile
and Auto Component Industry and the ‘National Programme on Advanced
Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage’ PLI scheme. In addition, five firms
submitted INR 1.53 lakh crore (US$19,731.5 million) proposals to set up
semiconductor, display plants under the INR 76,000 crore (US$9,801.3 million)
Semicon India Programme
o ACC PLI scheme: The scheme targets to achieve manufacturing capacity of 50
Giga Watt Hour (GWh) of ACC for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities
with a budgetary outlay of INR 18,100 crore (US$ 2,334.3 million). The
following players have won bids to receive incentives under the scheme:
The incentive will be disbursed over a period of five years on the sale of
batteries manufactured in India.
o PLI scheme for Automobile and Auto Components– Champion OEM Incentive
Scheme: The Champion OEM Incentive scheme is a ‘sales value linked’ scheme,
applicable on Battery Electric Vehicles and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles of all
segments. 20 applicants (along with their 12 subsidiaries) have been approved by
the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) under this scheme. This PLI Scheme has
been successful in attracting a proposed investment of INR 45,016 crore from the
approved applicants.
o PLI scheme for Automobile and Auto Components – Component Champion
Incentive Scheme: The Component Champion Incentive scheme is a ‘sales value
linked’ scheme, applicable on Advanced Automotive Technology components of

14. 12

vehicles, Completely Knocked Down (CKD)/ Semi Knocked Down (SKD) kits,
Vehicle aggregates of 2-Wheelers, 3-Wheelers, passenger vehicles, commercial
vehicles and tractors, etc. The Union government has granted approval to 75 auto
component manufacturers including majors such as Maruti Suzuki India and Hero
MotoCorp. This PLI Scheme has been successful in attracting a proposed
investment of INR 45,016 crore (US$ 5,805.4 million)
• Battery Swapping Policy: Niti Aayog released the first draft of the Battery
Swapping Policy 2022 on April 21, 2022, to improve interoperability and push
for faster adoption of electric vehicles in the two-wheeler and threewheeler
segment. Some of the key objectives of the Policy include
Promote swapping of batteries with Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries to
decouple battery costs from the upfront costs of purchasing EVs, thereby driving
EV adoption.
Promote swapping of batteries with Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries to
decouple battery costs from the upfront costs of purchasing EVs, thereby driving
EV adoption.

15. 13

Charging Infrastructure
The charging infrastructure space this quarter (Q1 2022) witnessed a slew of
partnerships in the battery swapping space from the likes of Amazon India and
Sun Mobility as well as Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd and Battery Smart.
The quarter witnessed the success of battery swapping in India with Battery Smart
and Bounce both having achieved a milestone of one million paid swaps .
Encouraging this further, the government’s think tank Niti Aayog has already
released a draft policy for implementing battery swapping station set up in India.
Another milestone achieved was the setting up of India’s largest electric vehicle
charging station with a capacity of 100 charge points for 4 wheelers at the Delhi-
Jaipur National Highway in Gurugram, Haryana.

Fig 5.1: Planned Charging Stations/Chargers/Charge Points
Source: JMK Research, Industry News Articles

16. 14

Challenges
E2W adoption in India has been constrained by the inadequacies and/or
inefficiencies of different support systems required in the EV ecosystem viz.
retail financing, supply chain, and government subsidies. These specific barriers
have been henceforth discussed in brief
Retail Financing
The Indian EV industry is growing and advancing at an encouraging pace.
However, the industry is yet to break through the nascent stage of development.
Due to EV industry’s nascency, Indian lenders are hesitant in offering retail EV
loans to consumers. In particular, the risks pertaining to asset performance and
asset resale act as fundamental barriers for financial institutions (FI). Paucity of
reliable data on E2W performance with respect to vehicle life, range, load
capacity, and vehicle component quality has raised the perceived risk in E2W
performance. In addition, since E2W (having smaller customer pool) depreciates
faster than the ICE-counterparts, the resale value of the electric variant of two-
wheelers is very low. Thus, the overall asset risk of E2W is significantly higher
than ICE-2W. This is reflected on the interest rates for E2W loans. The interest
rates for E2Ws can go as high as 20% or even more11 whereas for ICE-2W, the
interest rates are typically 7-16%.12
Energy sources
Battery if you take the example of a recent battery, say a Lithium-ion battery, the
specific energy and energy density in a Lithium-ion battery is about 75 times
lower than that of petrol and 25 times lower, which means that the same energy.
The mass of the material for a lithium-ion battery would be 75 times that of petrol
and it would require 25 times more volume than petrol. This is a serious limitation
of the battery compared to liquid fuel.
E2W Battery Fire Incidents
The last one year has witnessed multiple cases of fire incidents involving E2Ws
of OEMs such as Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech, Jitendra EV Tech, PureEV,
and Boom EV. This prompted the Indian government to constitute a panel to
probe such incidents. As per the probe committee, fault in battery cells and
modules was the major cause of almost all E2W fires. In case of Ola Electric, the
government-backed investigation team found problems with battery cells as well
as the BMS. In case of Okinawa, the government’s team found an issue with the
cells and battery modules while with PureEV scooters, defective battery casing
was the issue. Furthermore, it was found that many E2W batteries lacked even

17. 15

the basic safety features such as venting mechanisms to release any build-up of
pressurised gas or systems to identify and isolate failing or overheating cells.13
Now, with the government having revised AIS norms in relation to EV battery
tests, E2W safety in India is expected to be adequately enhanced in the near-term
Supply Chain Constraints
The key components of E2W such as the battery, motor, and power electronics,
which constitute about 60% of the cost of an E2W, are still not being
manufactured in India and hence imported. Due to this, only a handful of E2W
OEMs meet the 50% localisation criteria to avail government incentives. Most of
the Indian manufacturers import completely knocked-down E2W kits from
China. These are then assembled in India to be sold in the local market. However,
such assembled E2Ws are not comprehensively tested under the actual Indian
riding conditions, thereby leading to issues like fire accidents. It is highly critical
for the E2W industry to enhance the indigenous supply chain with renewed focus
on rigorous product testing and Research and Development (R&D).

Subsidy-related Issues
Delay/Halt of Subsidy Disbursal
Several E2W as well as E3W OEMs have stated that they have not been paid
the FAME 2 subsidies, which they are entitled to receive, for the last 4-5
months. Reportedly, the subsidies, aggregating to INR200-300 crore, have
been halted thus far, forcing the start-ups to reduce or modify their production
schedules.12 In the midst of this subsidy-related situation, an EV Federation
was founded on 15th October 2022 which has representation from more than
100 EV component manufacturers, E2W and E3W OEMs, battery makers, and
dealer associations. According to the EV federation, over 80% of smaller
OEMs’ cash flows have been severely impacted owing to the non-payment of
subsidies
Subsidy Misutilization
In early October 2022, E2W OEMs namely, Hero Electric, Okinawa, Revolt
and Ampere received notices from the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) to
check if the E2W components used by them have been locally sourced.
Reportedly, there are many Indian OEMs that are importing E2W components
from China and other countries and rebranding them under an Indian vendor
so that they meet the criteria for availing the FAME 2 subsidy.13 This has led

18. 16

to misutilization of government funds which otherwise could have been used
elsewhere for some other critical requirements.
Future perspective
With decreasing the price of batteries by nearly 70% since 2012, electric
vehicles are probably to be as low-priced as fuel-power-driven vehicles within
a year.
❖ Capitalization of the rising players like Ola and Uber, as well as food delivery
companies, is also likely to help in the development of two-and four-wheeled
EVs.
❖ If the government's 2030 goals are achieved, then India could save Rs.10 lakh
crore expenditure on gasoline and crude oil imports. Nowadays, the
development of charging stations for e-mobility is the only main challenge.
❖ Delhi recently developed charging stations space for e-rickshaws.
❖ More initiative like NTPC has already developed its first indoor space
charging station in Vishakhapatnam having facilities to charge more than two
electric vehicles at the same time.
❖ Recently, the lead-acid batteries problem was solved by using carbon additives
which shows the enhanced electrochemical performance of the batteries helps
in increasing the sales and production of personal and commercial electric
vehicles too.
❖ Lithium-ion batteries are featured for fast charging and high electrochemical
performance and having high demand in the latest electric vehicles. More
developments in cathode materials, such as increasing nickel content, can
improve their performance, safety, and capacity retention.

References
[1] M. A. Sarkar, "Indian Electric Vehicle Market," Blue Wave Consulting.
[2] "e-amrit.niti," 2022. [Online]. Available: https://e-amrit.niti.gov.in/national-level-policy.
[3] JMK Research, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://jmkresearch.com/.
[4] Times of India, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.