Opinion | An entire ecosystem needed for EVs in India
Live MintIndia’s automotive industry is in a growth stage—automobile production and sales in India will both have higher growth rates over the next decade than in most other auto hubs. However, with each additional combustion-engine-based vehicle we manufacture and use, we will be adding carbon dioxide and other pollutants, using additional fuel, and putting excessive load on our already saturated city infrastructure and traffic. A shared vehicle runs around 12 hours a day and caters to multiple passengers and, thus, in the best case, does the effective work of five personally owned vehicles. In this novel stakeholder map, end consumer profiles range from personal owners to even city transportation utilities—all with different needs, limitations and adoption strategies. Beyond charging infrastructure, there could be multiple models of using EVs as owned vehicles, on lease with structures of gross cost-to-customers or even pay-as-you-go.