Let's not repeat past mistakes in e-mobility: Amitabh Kant

Two key factors will come together to accelerate India's shift to e-mobility, a top government official said on Saturday.

Market dynamics and technological disruption will ensure that there will be no conventional two-wheelers and three-wheelers in the country beyond 2025, said Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, the government's premier policy think tank.

"Beyond 2025, the market will ensure that there are no ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) 2W and 3W. Electric vehicles will become cheaper. Therefore, consumers will go for EVs," Kant said at a roundtable to promote electric mobility, organised by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

Kant said battery prices have fallen to $126 per kWh over the last few years, from about $1,100 earlier.

They are expected to further dip below $100 per kWh in the next 18 months, bringing about price parity between electric and fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

India must make use of this opportunity and aim for leadership in EVs, he said.

"One of the lessons we learnt was that, in mobile phones, the market grew in India, but we became import dependent. What we learned in solar [is that] the market grew in India, but we became import dependent. Let us not make that mistake in the world of [electric] mobility. We must make India the centre of manufacturing, both for the Indian market and for the rest of the world," Kant said.

Indian automakers must go global and aim for a major share of the electric auto market, said Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister for Heavy Industries.

The ₹25,938 crore Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the automobile sector, along with manufacturing of advanced chemistry cells (₹18,100 crore), and subsidies under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) II initiative worth ₹10,000 crore, have been designed to make the country an attractive destination for setting up production hubs of advanced automotive technologies.

At present, the share of advanced automotive technologies in the local automobile sector stands at around 3%, compared to 18% prevalent globally.

This percentage is projected to increase to 30% by 2030.

Advanced automotive technologies currently face cost disabilities in the range of 15-30% due to the technology gap, lack of a local supplier base and economies of scale. The PLI scheme will enable the industry to focus on developing higher value, higher technology products to transition to connected, clean vehicles that will reduce dependence on imports and integrate with the global supply chain.

Additionally, to accelerate the transition to e-mobility in the local market and ease consumer concerns related to range anxiety, the heavy industries ministry has started working with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to set up charging stations across 22,000 fuel pumps.