Electric Vehicles will change India economy, make China global hub

The world's transition from fossil-fuel-based vehicles to electric vehicle (EV) market will not only change automobile industry but it will have a huge impact on economies such as India and China.

India, which has a thriving automotive industry serving the local and global market, has around 19 million people, making up 5% of India’s workforce, are employed in the sector now.

As Indian government aggressively pushing towards becoming electric vehicle market, there will be a requirement for new and pollution free, efficient vehicle components such as high-density batteries. It will also create a need to set up a global technology centre in the motors design and manufacturing space.  All these, once established by 2030, as per government deadline, will create job opportunities and help economy rise.

The government has already taken the lead and is promoting Power PSUs to take the lead in setting up EV charging infrastructure in the country. The EV charging infrastructure would need large investments.

The complete transition EVs will need a considerable investment of ₹1.8 lakh crore in setting up charging stations and other infrastructure in the country, according to a report by Feedback Consulting.

While China, which has one-third of global auto market, released auto industry plan in April marking new energy vehicles future sales growth. China is the world’s largest auto market, with 28.03 million vehicles sold last year. It will be global hub with sales reaching 7 million annually in 2025. The country plans to build 800000 charging stations this year, said a China Daily report.  It is aggressively pursuing ban of sell fossil-fuel powered vehicles.

Currently, around 80 percent of the global auto market is pushing toward phase-out of petroleum cars and adoption of electric vehicles.

Last week, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari warned auto makers in the country to make a shift towards Electric Vehicles as it is future and inevitable.

As per industry data, electric car sales in India, one of the world's fastest-growing car markets, are negligible compared with annual sales of over 3 million petrol and diesel cars last fiscal year.

EVs are expensive due to the high cost of batteries, which are still not manufactured in India, and carmakers say a lack of charging stations could make the whole proposition unviable.

Renault India MD Sumit Sawhney said, if the government want it to come fast, then they need to start creating infrastructure, clear policy, and ecosystem.