Page 31 - MMI _ MayJune2021 (single-pages)
P. 31
“To encourage 2-wheelers and
passenger cars sales, State Gover-
nments and local authorities
should come up with non-fiscal
incentives, which can prove to be
of immense significance in long-
term transportation planning.”
Rashmi Urdhwareshe
President
Society of Automotive Engineers
India
(SAE India)
and Centre for Energy Finance, Source: Rashmi Urdhwareshe
by 2030 cumulative EV sales in Rashmi Urdhwareshe, President, Society of Automotive Engineers India
(SAE India)
all vehicle segments could cross
achieving integrated environ- commitment of developing and Local
over 100 million units, 200 times mental goals. absorbing the technology as well manufac-
as products. turing of
its current market size. Please Currently, India is heavily depen- The investment by the Gov- batteries,
ernment in setting up charging especially
share your view. dent on imports to meet its bat- infrastructure would be rath- the cells,
The Indian market does have this er limited and can cover only would
much potential. There are sever- tery storage requirements and a small portion of the total re- need heavy
al steps to be taken and many quirement. Private players can investments,
hurdles to be crossed to reach local manufacturing is limited. come forward for participation which
those numbers. As stated above, with the Government, only after could be
the Indian consumer, especially What are the measures being there is assured business. The justified
in the passenger car segment, is chicken and egg situation can only through
picky and also grounded. Unless undertaken to localize battery be overcome with gradual but larger
consumer requirements are ad- sustained growth in EVs rather volumes.
equately addressed, substantial manufacturing and strengthen than jumping to some numbers.
shift in the passenger car num-
ber would not come. other factors like battery stor- According to you, is the Indian
The 2-wheeler segment is high-
ly promising when it comes to age, charging stations, battery machine tool industry equipped
numbers as well as positive im-
pact on the environment. A sus- disposal to achieve successful enough to cater to the needs of
tained effort in displacing the
ICE vehicles with EVs is very EV adoption? the EV industry?
much practical especially with Yes, heavy dependency on any The Machine Tool industry is
reduced cost parity (partially major component of automotive undoubtedly capable of handling
due to increase in BS VI compli- always would results in losing the EV industry’s demand. It is
ant vehicle technology). competitive advantage. Local getting ready is what can be seen
Public transportation (city bus- manufacturing of batteries, through its expansion plans and
es, taxies and auto rickshaws) especially the cells, would investment patterns. Investments
would be the most appropriate need heavy investments, which in tooling, assembly, skills, and
segment to focus on. could be justified only through manufacturing capacities are cur-
In my view, the year 2030 has larger volumes. These vol- rently being done. There is, how-
another significance in India’s umes should include not just ever, a significant gap between
energy management status. Our domestic consumption, but India the status of ‘getting ready’ and
total electricity production is should aim at greatly enhancing ‘is ready’. This gap can be filled
currently dominated by fossil export potential. up only with commitments from
fuels. With the focus on Renew- Battery manufacturing is also all the stakeholders, not just the
able Energy and Non-conven- closely linked with the avail- Machine Tool industry.
tional energy, it is expected that ability and effective utilization
by 2030, the major electricity of key raw materials, power
production would be green and electronics components and
that is when EV penetration standardization. In order to give
would be really significant in impetus to this industry, OEMs
could work as consortium and
share the responsibility and
www.mmindia.co.in | 31May-June 2021
