11 SHOONYA: A JOURNEY TOWARDS COMPLEMENT
Ajay Panday
Sr. Manager, Union Bank of India, Staffe Training Centre, Powai 1 FRAMEWORK
Transport emission is increasing in India led by growing population and economic development. There are many causes of pollution including chemical pollution into water bodies, soil by improper disposal practices & agricultural activities and noise & light pollution due to population growth.
Air and noise pollution can have adverse effects on animals, plants, and humans. Although affords have been made to improve air and water pollution over the last few decades, but desirable results are not yet achieved. Air pollution has two components, primary and secondary. Primary pollutants are directly emitted from their source, where secondary pollutants generate when primary pollutant reacts in the atmosphere. The fumes from car exhausts contain dangerous gases i.e.
hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. These gases react with other atmospheric gases creating even more toxic gases.
Adopting electric vehicles (EVs) could improve air quality and lower carbon emissions, so the level of pollution. Researchers from the North- western University in the US quantified the differences in air pollution generated from battery-powered electric vehicles versus internal combustion engines. They found that even when electricity is generated from combustion, electric vehicle may have net positive effect on climate change. It can help in reduction of carbon emission and add-on benefit of
reducing air pollution to improve public health.
India has also taken its initiative in this direction and NITI Ayog launched massive exercise to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicle with target of fully urban freight sector in the next two years.
It is an initiative to promote zero- pollution delivery vehicles partnering consumers and industry. The campaign will promote the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the urban deliveries segment and create consumer awareness about the health, environmental and benefits from electric vehicles. As part of this campaign, a corporate branding and certification programme is also being launched to recognise and promote the industry’s efforts.
Government of India has already taken various initiatives to boost the electric vehicle eco system, the national electric mobility mission, faster adoption and mobility of electric vehicles in India (Fame India scheme), implementation of smart cities are some of those. In the series of its initiative Niti Ayog launched Shoonya. Amitabh Kant CEO of NITI Ayog said that India is at cusp of mobility revolution which will be shared, connected, green and urban delivery sector will be the leader in this sector (using electric vehicle).
2 WAY AHEAD WITH HANDS IN HAND The Objective of this scheme is to facilitate a faster transition to electric vehicle technology to reduce carbon emission and also to improve establishment of charging infrastructure which will, in turn, help promoting vendor base for EVs across all other vehicles category in India. NITI Ayog launched this campaign with RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) India.
RMI is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization of experts across disciplines working to accelerate the clean energy transition and improve lives. RMI
12 has mission of Transforming the global
energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all.
RMI has many more other initiatives with fantastic momentum in the energy transition all around the world with different countries to improve air quality and to reduce carbon emission. Some of the RMI joint initiatives are given hereunder as:-
Europe’s ambitious plan to move away from fossil fuels
The International Energy Agency’s new investments in fossil fuel development
With many enterprises who pledged to cut their climate emissions in half by 2030 rose to 4,500. As part of their initiative More than 100,000 of Ford’s electric F-150 trucks have been reserved and also Ford and Sunrun offered solar panels to provide resilience during blackouts
They have also been working with various Indian states i.e. Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi to have policy for electric vehicles.
3 PULLING BACK
The Indian electric vehicle (EV) market currently has one of the lowest penetration rates in the world due to its high Capital costs and uncertain payoff.
The dramatic depreciation of rupee in recent months and poor local production of inputs for EV are current challenges along with other external challenges. The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (Fame) framework has been extended repeatedly. An uncertain policy environment and the lack of supporting infrastructure are major roadblocks also India does not have any known reserves of Lithium and Cobalt, which makes it dependent on imports of
lithium-ion batteries from Japan and China. The challenges, in front of successful implementation of SHOONYA, may broadly be divided into four categories;
Technical: India is not technically well versed in the production of electronics that form the backbone of the EV industry, such as batteries, semiconductors, controllers, etc. and for most of the inputs of EVs are imported which makes it incompetent among comparatively lower priced vehicles.
Battery is the single most important input of EVs and India has not any reserves of Lithium and Cobalt, its dependency on China or Japan for batteries make EVs dream less lucrative.
Infrastructure: The lack of clarity over AC versus DC charging stations, grid stability and fear that batteries will soon run out of power are other factors. Small towns have no charging stations even A- class cities in India are lacking abundance of charging stations. Regular and stable power supply is main constraint in installing these charging stations.
Willingness: Still a large portion of population in India has reluctance in adopting EVs due to their misconception about batteries, resale and durability of vehicles. Awareness is not there among public and they are not willing to adopt this change.
Skilled Worker: EVs have higher servicing costs and higher level of skills is needed for servicing. India lacks dedicated training courses for such skill development.
4 THE NEED OF THE HOUR
Between 2013 and 2017, India’s online retail market grew at an average rate of 53% each year and is expected to become a $150 billion market by 2022. Given the rapid growth of e-commerce in the country- accelerated now by the pandemic- as many as 8 million vehicles will be on road to cater urban delivery segment by 2030. Urban freight vehicles account for 10% of freight transportation- related CO emissions in India and these emissions are expected to grow by 114%
by 2030.
13 EVs can contribute immensely, as they do
not emit tailpipe, to an improved air quality. Even when accounting for their manufacture, they emit 15-40% less CO2 as compared to counterpart petrol or diesel engine and have lower operational cost. As many as 30 companies, including Mahindra Electric, Tata Motors, Zomato, Ashok Leyland, Hero Electric and Swiggy have extended their support for the SHOONYA initiative. Shifting towards EVs will help India to reduce oil dependency while solving the challenge of energy scarcity and moving towards renewable and clean sources of energy.
For development of EV eco system, India needs
To shift the focus from subsidizing vehicles to subsidizing batteries because batteries make up 50% of EV costs. Promote this section under Make in India and invite foreign companies for technology transfer. Acquiring Lithium fields in Bolivia, Australia and Chile could become as important as buying oil or coal fields
Increasing focus on incentivizing electric two-wheelers because two- wheelers account for 76% of the vehicles in the country and consume most of the fuel
A wide network of charging stations is imminent for attracting investment. Work places in tech parks, Public bus depots, and Multiplexes are the some places where charging points could be installed. Corporate could invest in charging stations as Corporate Social Responsibility compliances
An analysis of skill gap barriers is needed to address the regulatory environment in a way that facilitates such deployment and value chain investment.
5 TOGETHER WE CAN
To overcome the barriers Indian Govt launched FAME in 2015, to promote EV adoption and to incentivize manufacturers to build EVs in India. In the first phase of FAME, the government provided USD 130 million in subsidies to assist the purchase of electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, hybrid and electric cars and buses. The national government and state governments have adopted several innovative and promoting policies since the start of the pandemic. Indian government has incentivized the deployment of e-buses and charging stations. On the state level, Telangana has exempted road tax and registration fee for the first 200,000 two-wheeler EVs, while Gujarat is offering subsidies on two- wheeler EVs for student, rickshaw drivers and self-employed people buying three- wheeler EVs, Delhi has also progressive EV policy and also has purchase incentives scheme based on battery range and category. These measures are promising, but need more streamlining, emphasise and coordination among policies from the central government, state governments and local (city) governments. With the right incentives and policy framework, India can leapfrog barriers and become a major player within the next decade.
REFERENCES
1. Business line dated 15 Apr 2019.
2. ET dated 16 Sep 2021-09-19.
3. Articles of Research square: emission inventory for road transport in India in 2020.
4. ISSD article dated 28 July 2021.
5. RMI and NITI Ayog website.
