When Electric Cars Will Take Over in India

The question of when electric cars will take over India is a looming one. The global semiconductor chip shortage has hampered the electric car industry’s expansion. India has the highest rate of electric vehicle sales in the world, but the number is still a small fraction of 20 million new car sales in 2017.

Ford recently announced plans to concentrate on EVs in India and will launch the Mustang Mach E EV later this year. It is expected to have a price tag of Rs 70 lakh. Other OEMs, like BMW and Audi, have models in development. The transition to electric cars is likely to disrupt the entire ecosystem. Companies heavily invested in the internal combustion engine supply chain will be the biggest losers. But when electric cars take over India, what will happen to the existing industries?

India’s automotive industry is the fifth largest in the world and is slated to become the third largest by 2030. The country’s vast domestic market is driving this transition. While conventional fuel-intensive mobility is not sustainable, federal policymakers have set an ambitious target of 100 percent electrification by 2030. India has abundant renewable energy resources and a skilled workforce in the manufacturing and technology industries. In fact, electric vehicles could be the key to a prosperous future for the country’s automotive industry.

India’s government is making strides to accelerate the transition to electric cars. Aside from the incentives aimed at attracting investment, India has also made several policies to encourage EV adoption. A recent policy introduced by the government to encourage battery swapping aims to promote green energy generation, decentralisation of energy distribution, and sidestep the issue of charging infrastructure. This is the perfect storm to accelerate the transition to electric cars in India.