Rising population, better road infrastructure, increasing rail, air and water connectivity and who knows
so many reasons, but more and more people are traveling around the world. The transportation sector
is contributing to almost a quarter of the total greenhouse gas emissions around the globe. One may
argue that shifting to all electric vehicles can reduce the impact on climate change, if not solve it.
According to the Paris climate agreement of 2016, the target is to run 100 million electric vehicles
(EVs) on the road by 2030. As of 2017, it is around 3.1 million EVs.
How much clean is an Electric Vehicle?
A car that runs completely on electricity does not produce any emissions per se, but the source from
which electricity is produced can contribute to emissions. Electricity produced from renewable sources
such as wind and sun virtually produces no emissions. But those produced from coal, oil and natural
gas does contribute a significant amount of pollutants.
Increase in number of EVs will result in increased demand of electricity which in turn will lead to
higher demand for oil. This may result in higher emissions.
To reduce the pollution levels from electrification, stricter policies have to be implemented. Investment
in renewable sources of energy is the need of the hour.
China leading the way:
The share of renewable sources for electricity production has increased significantly over the past few
years. China is leading the way in renewable energy. It is the world’s largest producer and exporter of
solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles.
In 2017, China’s renewable energy comprised 36.6% of its total installed electric power capacity, and
26.4% of its total power generation. The vast majority of its renewable sources is hydroelectric.
China is also the number one market for electric vehicles. The sales surged by 72% in 2017, pushing
their total ownership to over 1 million EVs. The country is also driving the growth in bus and two-
wheeler sector, holdin 99% of the world’s total stock.
Electric vehicles future in India:
India has been pushing to make plans for a major shift towards electric vehicles by 2030. Being a
member of Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI), India plans to have EVs contribute to 30% of all vehicle
sales by 2030.
Looking at the ground reality, the plan seems to have a lot of dead ends which will hinder India’s goal
of achieving the target.
70% of India’s electricity production comes from coal. Coal being the main source of power, increase
in EVs will result in need for more coal to reach the power demand. This will dent India’s goal to cut
the emissions.
India is on its way to roll out BS-VI emission norms in 2020. Vehicle manufacturers will be recalibrating
vehicles to meet the norms and hence they will be left with lesser investment for EVs.
High cost of EVs and poor public charging infrastructure makes it less appealing to the already
reluctant customers to buy EVs.
Unless the government comes with a better policy to improve the infrastructure and to provide
incentives to the EV manufacturers with low taxes and other benefits, it is difficult to provide an
affordable range of EVs to Indian customers. Investment in renewable sources of energy will also
help in cutting the emissions.
