Shift to EVs, E2Ws is inevitable

The Government has been encouraging the adoption of Electric Vehicle (EV) technology; and the Budget also announced a bouquet of incentives for them. EV penetration in India lies where cellphone adoption was in 1995 and it might easily take another decade for EVs to go mainstream. Given the existing financial viability, electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) should be promoted for high-utilisation commercial applications through easy financing with low down payment requirement. As financial viability is established for commercial operations, the Government should issue E2Ws procurement mandates for commercial operations later. India would be shifting to BSVI vehicles from 2020. Automobile-makers, auto-part makers and oil refineries have made huge investments for this transition. A time period of three-four years should be provided to them to recover investments through the sale of BSVI vehicles.