Electric Vehicles – The future of transport

As per 6th assessment report on climate change released by Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC), we have already caused “irreversible” damage to the climate due to
higher level of emissions in the environment. Among other factors, air pollution caused by
gasoline powered vehicles, is a major contributor to the misery, as a result, today India has 25
cities in the list of 100 most polluted cities of the world. Therefore, electric vehicles, which are
powered by more cleaner and reversible sources of energy, are being seen as an alternative to
the conventional gasoline powered vehicles, in order to reduce pollutants such as SO2, CH4,
CO etc.

Electric vehicles bring with them various benefits such as:

Lower running cost i.e. only 0.7 to 0.8 INR per KM, as compared to 7-8 INR per KM in case of
conventional vehicles running on petrol or diesel.

These are more energy efficient and release less toxic substances to the environment.

Less dependence on gasoline vehicles, essentially means, lower crude oil import bill for India,
therefore lowering current account deficit (CAD), thus helping the economy.

However, first of all, certain associated challenges must be addressed to make these an
alternative in real sense:

Increasing the Drive range: EV should have a single charge range of at least around 500 Kms.

Charging Infra

Supply chain : Semiconductor, Li-ion

Batteries End-of –Life management

More cleaner sources of electricity

Higher initial cost of EV

FAME Scheme

Sustainable development