There Is No Doubt That Electric Mobility Is Irreversible

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) – a joint venture of four public sector undertakings – NTPC Ltd, Power Finance Corporation Ltd, Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (set up under the Ministry of Power, Government of India) – has been at the forefront of India’s ambitious electric mobility programme. I caught up with Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL, for a detailed understanding of its roadmap in creating an EV ecosystem.

EESL has been championing the cause of electrical vehicles in India. How would you assess the overall EV push in India?

There are a few regulatory gaps that existed as far as electric mobility is concerned. Of course, the first key thing in electromobility is the creation of public charging infrastructure and for that you need standards and commercially viable tariffs, so that people are encouraged to put up these charging stations. There is a need for clear regulatory mechanisms, both in terms of fiscal incentives and non-fiscal incentives, rebates, etc. All these need to happen before you see a full blown e-mobility in India like you see in Scandinavian countries, China or some parts of Europe. The government is working on these areas.

A lot of things need to be factored in. It’s a new technology after all – you have to look at grid stability, what kind of prices will come up, which are the technologies that you have to leverage, what charging specifications need to be adopted. Clearly, it’s a long drawn out process but EESL is giving a fillip to this whole exercise by specifically focusing on e-mobility in the government vehicles space. As per our estimates, the Central Government, its agencies, PSUs, etc have roughly half a million cars.

The government has virtually stopped buying new cars over the last 25-30 years. The economy instructions came into force in early 90s, which meant that you can’t buy new cars. Most of the government vehicles are leased vehicles. The objective is to start electrifying the government fleet, especially those hired cars that travel not less than 80 km during the day (intra-city travel) and that’s how ESSL started this whole exercise. The first set of cars EESL procured has a range of 130 km, which is sufficient for replacing these government intra-city vehicles.

EESL offered government agencies three models. First, you can carry out an outright purchase and we’ll add some administrative cost to whatever cost we’ve incurred through the bidding process and the car is yours. The second model is a wet lease, where EESL offers the government entity the car along with a driver for eight hours, for a monthly cost of ` 40,000. The third model is dry lease, where a government department take the car and deploy its own driver at a monthly cost of ` 20,000. From the first phase of its international competitive bidding process, ESSL procured 250 cars from Tata Motors and 150 from Mahindra. As many as 200 cars are currently used by various government agencies. The next lot of 9,600 cars will be evenly procured from Tata Motors and Mahindra.

EESL has issued the letter of award for these 9,600 cars and has indicated when it wants these cars. We want to wrap up this process, which will ensure roll-out of roughly 1,000 electric vehicles every month, as soon as possible.

What kind of support have you been receiving from the State governments?

ESSL is witnessing encouraging participation from the State governments. We have inked MoUs with the Andhra Pradesh government for 10,000 electric vehicles as well with the Gujarat government for 8,000 electric vehicles. We feel that more states will gradually follow suit. EESL does not want to rush because the EV manufacturing capacity in India is still in its nascent stage. We have now floated the second tender. This tender is important as it will enable us to understand whether other players are keen to jump into the fray (apart from Tata Motors and Mahindra). The point is, if we have four to five players in the fray, then reaching out to more states makes more sense.

EESL for now is only focusing on government vehicles. We have installed around 400 charging stations for the first lot of vehicles procured from Tata Motors and Mahindra. A large chunk of these vehicles is availing AC charging points. A car that travels 80-100 km a day does not need multiple charging during the day; all it needs is overnight charging with a 15 A plug, with some safety device that does not cost more than ` 6,000. DC chargers are expensive (approximately ` 2.5 lakh) and can charge in 90 min. EESL has deployed AC charging simply because the specific requirement of the government fleet is less than 100 km a day.

As far as public charging infrastructure in concerned, there is a lack of clarity over selling electricity and the power ministry is looking into it. EESL’s EV focus is not in conflict with any quarter because the payment for charging stations is done by respective government departments. We are only putting up charging points and not selling power.

I believe fuel stations will have to turn into charging stations of tomorrow. There is no need for fast charging at offices and parking lots as one can charge the car for three hours, while in office. However, these fuel stations can be fast chargers. If you look at global trends, you will be surprised to know that only 30 % of electric vehicles avail fast charging. For example, on an average, a car in India is used for around 30 km and these cars have a range of 130 km.

It’s not only about the cost; people will not buy EVs unless they see charging stations everywhere, which is the case with fuel stations. Once all regulatory issues are addressed, you will see a robust charging infrastructure in India that will trigger fast-paced adoption of e-mobility. The running cost of an EV is ` 1.10/km, while the running cost of petrol and diesel cars per km are ` 6 and ` 5.50 respectively and are only growing.

I agree that the capital cost of EVs is slightly higher and most nations across the globe are providing capital subsidy. My take is that instead of doling out capital subsidy, it is better to offer incentives such as waiving-off road tax, registration charges or maybe dole out an interest subsidy. Providing a new green number plate is also a good thought. It is only a matter of time before the cost of EVs will come down. Battery comprises around 70 % of an EV’s cost, and the battery cost has come down by one-fifth over the last five years.

What is your take on the concept of battery swapping?

I think battery swapping is a good option for smaller vehicles like two-wheelers and three-wheelers as well as buses (both inter-city and intra-city buses as they can do the swapping at bus depots that typically have big spaces). I don’t think battery swapping is possible for cars. If you really want swapping stations to work in cars, we must ensure availability of such stations in main commercial areas and the service offered must be quick. Globally, battery swapping in cars hasn’t worked.

Industry experts believe that EVs will be taken in a big way by two-wheelers, three-wheelers and intra-city users. There is a general thinking that IC engines will stay for long distance commercial vehicles. What’s your take on the personal mobility segment embracing EVs?

The personal mobility space may adopt EVs much faster than most of us actually think. There is an inherent economic justification in switching from ICE to EV. In India, we have seen that people are willing to invest at high capital cost if their operating costs are lower. Take the example of a diesel car. Look at any model that has both petrol and diesel variants; you will see that diesel variant always has 20 % more capital cost, but people still invest in it because it has proved beneficial in the long run. As for EVs taking off in India is concerned, it is all about creating charging infrastructure and building public awareness and things will happen.

There is talk that the modular approach of importing batteries and controllers from abroad and assembling it in India isn’t quite the right recipe – what’s your take on indigenous battery cell manufacturing making EVs more affordable?

Well, various studies have shown that the battery cost is $ 200 per kWh and is expected to come down $ 100-110 per kWh by 2022. Some analysts are saying that it will bridge the 100-dollar mark, if the India demand comes into the picture. It’s all about creating an enabling policy and demand.

EESL has been recommending to the government to make an announcement to electrify its whole government fleet over the next three to four years. The point is, if you announce half a million cars in three to four years, it will generate a demand of at least three to four gigawatt hour of battery sold. Why will people not come to India and invest? It is not hard to change from ICE to EVs and Tata has shown that by putting up a car in three to four months.

What is your view on the relevance of Internal Combustion Engines?

My line of thinking is that ICEs will co-exist with electric vehicles. If you look at all the projections in India as well as globally, it indicate that the growth of ICEs may reduce but there is a long way to go before EVs takes over everything else. It is crystal clear worldwide that the future of mobility is electric. Of course, alternate research is happening on hydrogen fuel cells and zinc oxide, but there is no doubt that electric mobility is irreversible. The objective is to reduce the country’s import bill and for that to happen embracing EVs in a big way is the way forward.

Public Transportation Should Be The Focus Area For EVs: ARAI Director Rashmi Urdhwareshe

With so much of talk around electromobility, we decided to speak to Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) to know her perspective on how the country is geared up to transition from ICEs to EVs, as well as her views on other energy sources. The country’s EV focus should be on public transportation and subsequently on creating public infrastructure for EVs, she said. Excerpts from a freewheeling interview:

Rashmi Urdhwareshe has been consistently the pillar of strength behind the growth and success of the Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) – the country’s apex vehicle testing body. Urdhwareshe, who took charge as ARAI Director in the second half of 2014, has successfully handled a wide gamut of responsibilities over the years, in areas of automotive electronics, instrumentation & controls, quality management, homologation & standardisation, international harmonisation of automotive regulations, vehicle type approval certification, export homologation, laboratory accreditation, etc.

Born in Nagpur to professor parents, Urdhwareshe leads from the front, in terms of taking up challenges at ARAI. Interestingly, she kicked off her professional career as a trainee engineer at ARAI in 1983. Urdhwareshe completed her post-graduation in Electronics Engineering from the Collegwe of Engineering, Pune. She is a former NCC cadet, a state-level bridge champion as well as a trained sitar player.

As the Indian auto industry starts making a transition from ICE to electric vehicles as per the government’s 2030 go-all-electric mandate, how do you assess this transition?

These are indeed challenging times for the industry. I think the government’s direction of going all electric by 2030 has to be interpreted in a right manner. Go-all-electric does not mean that all vehicle categories should go electric – the country’s EV focus should be on public transportation and subsequently we can focus on creating public infrastructure for EVs. The need of the hour is to focus on electric mobility for auto rickshaws, buses and taxis as it is easy to deploy charging infrastructure at auto stands, taxi stands and bus depots. We need to create success stories around these segments and once that happens, the acceptance of EVs will increase. I feel that it is very much achievable because policies are in place and action plans can be certainly drawn. As far as personalised mobility is concerned, I don’t think consumers are ready to absorb EVs.

How do you think the challenges related to electromobility can be overcome?

The Indian auto industry has been vibrant enough to take on challenges and I’m sure the industry will respond to the challenges positively. Engineers love technical challenges! The first and most important thing will be to increase the acceptability as well as commercial viability of EVs on a large scale than just the pilot/ experimental introduction. I can definitely see customer awareness among modern city dwellers be it Delhi, Pune or any other city that want a pollution-free environment. People in these cities are talking about moving to cleaner transportation solutions and these are the areas where acceptability will be very high. There is a need to move in a structured manner towards creating the EV infrastructure as well as bring the ownership cost down. After the current government’s go-electric announcement, cities are coming forward and investing heavily and are willing to create public infrastructure for charging and enabling electrification, which I think will be a major game changer. ICEs will certainly stay because there is no such thing as dominance of one segment over the other

How is ARAI’s E-mobility Centre of Excellence likely to help shape the EV journey across the country?

We perceive that this e-mobility centre of excellence will help in multiple ways in handling technology – ranging from creation of charging infrastructure, developing vehicular technology solutions, knowledge management, providing testing/ validation facility and skill development. ARAI will focus on one more aspect – collaborate research and develop an ecosystem for enabling technology to be made available for quick absorption. We do not have the time to reinvent anything; it is important to adopt technology for Indian-specific requirements and move faster to achieve the national objectives. This centre has all the testing and validation infrastructure at component level, systems level and complete vehicle level.

In addition, it provides R&D for start-ups as well as simulation-based technologies that can be effectively used for fast development. ARAI plans to create a web-link with the Ministry of Heavy Industry (DHI) for inviting collaborative research as well as technology transfer services. There are multiple institutes that are working on development of battery or motor technologies – it will be important to integrate these so that we can achieve our goal of electric mobility.

The battery cost of electric vehicles has always been a big talking point – how do you think a concept like battery swapping is relevant for the Indian market?

It is a worthwhile concept. India should try this out in a controlled manner in small battery packs. Keeping in view environmental and usage duty cycles, operational safety would be a big concern that needs to be addressed. Swapping concept works well with standardised packs and specifications. Two- and three-wheelers could therefore be good candidates for trying out the battery swapping concept.

With so much EV talk, how do you see the ICE space shape up? Do you think it will play a second fiddle to EVs or replaced completely or can co-exist together with EVs?

ICEs will certainly stay – co-exist is the right word, because there is no such thing as dominance of one segment over the other. Sectors such as construction and mining, commercial agriculture tractors, long haulage trucks, special purpose vehicles, etc, will continue to be dependent on ICEs.

In the future mix of propulsion technologies, what role do you see for hybrids?

Hybrids would have been a natural and logical choice had it not been for the government’s focus on pure EVs. Technically, hybrids are much easier to adopt. I also see a space for retrofitment of vehicles done through hybrids. Such retrofitments would offer dual benefits – increase fuel efficiency as well as reduce emissions. For now, because of the government’s immediate electrification goals, OEMs as well as ARAI have shifted their efforts towards EV development and the focus on hybrids is taking a backseat, but the technology is very much relevant for India. I believe that we should pursue it for after-fitment of vehicles to clean up the existing fleets.

Be it BS VI emission norms, the 2030 all-electric target or safety regulations – the auto industry seems to be under pressure to respond to all these challenges.

The auto industry is certainly under tremendous pressure. It is important for OEMs to reshape their investments and also ready up their Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, as the supplier base for all these technologies is very different. The time available for all these is so short that effectively managing their product portfolios is a big challenge. Similar challenge is there for ARAI as well – our resources and capabilities are also being planned to support the development, validation and final approvals. Nevertheless we have been anticipating the dynamic demand and are able to shift our focus and work towards alternate energies.

ARAI is not just focusing on electric mobility but also on very actively developing alternate energy solutions, where IC engines would continue to play a role if not in pure petrol or diesel mode, but in dual fuel variants working on various blends or combinations of alternate energies. We anticipate that there is immense potential to explore these possibilities in parallel to EVs.

How does ARAI plan to address the enormous challenge of testing the huge number of engines in the country today for BS VI compliance?

ARAI has created additional test centres and is scaling up its operations multi-fold. We have invested heavily with support from our parent ministry as well as from our own research funds in our facilities at Kothrud and Chakan. We have augmented the technical capabilities and skills of our testing and homologation teams. Our teams have undergone extensive training, working on optimisation using simulation technologies as well as working on advanced after-treatment devices and other newer areas involving green fuels. ARAI is focusing on collaborative work; drawing up joint research programmes with fellow institutes to accelerate the speed of technology development. ARAI has also internally created a Technology Group that acts as a think-tank to bring in technology solutions to cater to the industry needs. ARAI is working with most of the OEMs for reengineering their vehicles to migrate to BS VI. This covers the entire range of products – two-wheelers all the way up to buses, trucks and tractors.

We are seeing vehicle manufacturers voluntarily coming forward and seeking to carry out safety tests

There is a lot of talk about India’s own car assessment programme – Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP). How prepared are we to make this programme a success?

If we look globally, such safety assessment programmes are not regulated by the government or through any mandatory norms. It is usually regulated by insurance and consumer demands – the purpose is to enable the consumer to select the product on the basis of its safety rating. The draft protocol of the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme has already been announced, but the government is yet to announce who will be administering it. As far as ARAI is concerned, we have full testing and certification capability as per this protocol as well as Global NCAP. It is seen that vehicle manufacturers are voluntarily coming forward and seeking to carry out such evaluation tests.

ARAI has lined up its 2020 roadmap that includes a big focus on light weighting of vehicles – how that is shaping up?

ARAI is working closely with the Department of Heavy Industry to develop competencies and techniques for lightweighting through concepts like smart structures, materials & composite development and forging processes. These projects are undertaken through the government’s cess funding. One of the completed projects involves developing an aluminium super structure for buses that will help in electric bus development programmes; light material and lighter structures will help enable electrification to a large extent. This project is close to its successful conclusion and the technology is now available for transfer. We are also working on high strength steel development and material characterisation with various combinations of alloys at the material level. At the manufacturing level, the forging industry is coming forward with research projects related to energy saving and process optimisation and quality improvement.

How do sum up the future of the Indian auto industry?

Given the changing scenario, it is important to ride the right wave. Policies such as ‘Make in India’ are already creating the enablers. The need of the hour is to encash them by developing the complete ecosystem that will be a big advantage for India. India has a large supplier base; we have material development and manpower resources. Given all these, India has a huge potential and I have no hesitation in seeing a bright future for the automotive industry.