Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced proposals for strengthening the whole ecosystem of the EV industry which is expected to spur the demand for green vehicles in the country.
The industry has hailed Sitharaman’s announcement saying that the introduction of battery swapping policy and interoperability standards announced in the Budget will go a long way in building the use cases and will be a big booster for the start-ups in the EV space.
FM announced that the government will bring a battery swapping policy to boost use of EVS in the country in view of space constraints for setting up charging stations and interoperability standards will be formulated.
"Introducing the battery swapping policy and recognizing battery or energy as a service will help develop EV infrastructure and increase the use of EVs in public transportation. It would motivate businesses engaged in delivery and car aggregation businesses to incorporate EVs into their fleet, said Sohinder Gill, Director General, Society of Manufacturers of EVs.
FM further said that private sector will be encouraged to develop sustainable and innovative models for battery and energy as a service which will increase efficiency in the EV ecosystem. ‘’I am confident that this move will encourage manufacturers to enhance investments in this sector,’’ she opined.
Kinetic Green Founder and CEO Sulajja Firodia Motwani, said, “Budget 2022 is a futuristic budget with focus on deployment of advanced technology like EV, green mobility and digitization. The Budget 2022 is positive for the Electric Vehicle sector, which re-unforced the Indian Government’s commitment to accelerating EV and green mobility ecosystem in India.” She added that FM has announced that to foster creation of the electric vehicle ecosystem, battery swapping policy will be devised. “In order to scale up battery stations, a battery-swapping policy will be brought out with interoperability standards,” she noted.
On the other hand, Trontek India, India’s largest Li-ion battery manufacturer CEO & Founder Samrath Kochar said the battery swapping policy with interoperability will be boost adoption of EVs as it will help allay the range anxiety and bring the EVs at par with ICE vehicles in terms of time taken for replenishment of fuel.
Deloitte Partner & Automotive Leader Rajeev Singh observed that battery swapping policy including interoperability could be a big booster for all the start-ups already working in this space. It could also help drive movement to electrification of fleets especially for last mile connectivity for both people & goods, he added.
