India’s automobile industry is witnessing a revolution with the country trying hard to make a transition to electric vehicles. The government is continuously pushing towards an electric-vehicle future in India and is looking forward to making all the three-wheelers electric that are manufactured after 2023. But, with no proper infrastructure in place and higher operating costs, the future of EVs in India looks bleak and is being questioned by many industry experts.

According to a report published by The Ken, the electric two-wheelers that were sold in 2018 made up only 0.006 per cent of the total two-wheelers sold that year. This reluctance in the adoption of EVs can be subjected to several reasons like higher battery costs; heavy expenses and lack of charging infrastructure which are keeping people away from investing in them.

Moreover, with the non-availability of lithium and cobalt in the country, the manufacturing process becomes more costly, thus making the model a whole lot more expensive for an average Indian consumer

With a population of over 136.8 crores, the adoption of EVs in India will be much slower than that of China or the West. For India to become a “global hub of manufacturing of electric vehicles”, as mentioned by Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget, the government needs to mitigate through many challenges. Lack of charging infrastructure, no service centers, less vehicle mileage, lack of trained personnel, the problem of battery swapping and the high-rise of cost of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are some of the issues prevailing in the EV sector that are preventing the widespread adoption of the EVs. Moreover, with the non-availability of lithium and cobalt in the country, the manufacturing process becomes more costly, thus making the model a whole lot more expensive for an average Indian consumer than a conventional mainstream automobile.

To make EVs viable in the country, the government needs to come forward and fill the gaps in the EV ecosystem. Proper installation of charging stations and the availability of subsidy schemes are some of the measures that can help solve the country’s electric vehicle problem and will make us achieve an EV friendly future.