WBCSD and businesses in India unveil policy report on large-scale adoption of electric vehicles

According to experts, investing in an energy transition in mobility is crucial for India’s attempts to reduce emissions and ensure energy security.

But the ground realities are far from ideal.

In March 2019, the Indian government had announced FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India) Scheme, with a budget of around Rs 10,000 crore. According to reports, the plan largely failed to reach the desired target.

On June 11, this year, the central Ministry of Heavy Industries amended the existing scheme, offering incentives to several segments of electric vehicles, to boost faster adoption of EVs.

At such a juncture, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and its REmobility coalition, believe their latest report providing policy recommendations to accelerate India's transition to electric mobility, will be a handy tool.

REmobility is a regional action collaborative under WBCSD’s Transforming Urban Mobility project

More than 30 businesses from India's electric vehicle (EV) value chain contributed to the report.

Some of the key factors highlighted by the report include inputs from early EV adopting businesses, adoption of EVs across commercial fleets and increases investments in charging infrastructure, the existing gap between government plans and business actions, eight guiding pathways for policymakers and 18 actionable policy recommendations, suggestions how to evolve the FAME scheme to ensure EV transition as well as inputs on non-FAME fiscal and non-fiscal measures to boost new business models and address challenges linked with early EV adoption, etc.

WBCSD said it will advocate for the adoption of the new policy recommendations by governmental bodies in India, especially relevant ministries and departments at the sub-national level.

What the key stakeholders are saying:

Nitin Prasad, Chairman of Shell companies in India said, "We must work together to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C. Electrified vehicles will play a critical role in the global mobility decarbonization efforts – and open up economic opportunities in India and worldwide."

Chetan Maini, Co-founder and Chairman of SUN Mobility said that India can gain from energy as a service business models, especially in the two- or three-wheeler segments, in the shared mobility and last-mile segments.

“This approach lowers upfront vehicle costs and charging time, thereby increasing vehicle utilization and driver incomes. Promoting different infrastructure solutions, combined with effective policy implementation is key to accelerating e-mobility,” said Maini.

Kanv Garg, Energy eMobility Lead, EY India said, "Commercial fleet operators in India are now finding EVs as a cost improvement measure, in addition to running their operations sustainably."

Thomas Deloison, Director, Mobility at WBCSD said, the report draws on the early implementation experiences of companies in the EV business.

"The policy paper follows important capacity-building material developed by businesses under the coalition, notably the India EV Adoption Guide and the documentation of India's first all-electric car ride-hailing company," Deloison said.

Divya Sharma, Executive Director, India, Climate Group  said, “A well-designed and effective policy environment has the potential to accelerate climate action significantly.."