Gadkari wants e-cars by 2030, but... - lithium ion battery manufacturers

Trade union transport minister Nitin Gadkari's ultimatum to the automotive industry
Alternatives to pollution ("whether they like it or not") or "bulldozers" have raised concerns among car manufacturers that the government plans to have all new cars powered by electric engines by 2030.
Gadkari made it clear that he would take action on diesel vehicles and warned industry insiders not to complain about unsold stocks in the future.
To achieve this, the industry says manufacturers must sell between 10 and 15 million electric vehicles in 2030, eight to ten times the number of such vehicles sold in the world in 2015.
The 2030 target will be more than the world's electric vehicle production recognized in the Paris climate talks.
India currently sells only 22,000 electric vehicles a year.
The goal looks ambitious.
China is the world's largest electric vehicle market (selling about 500,000 vehicles last year) and has set a modest target of producing 7 million electric vehicles by 2025.
However, r c Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki, said while agreeing with the ambitious view of the goal: "What Mr. garkari wants to convey to the industry is the government's determination to push this policy forward.
"Bhargava pointed out that two years ago, people in the industry knew that they needed to go to BS (Stage at Stage )--
Although the time may be short, it is feasible.
Pawan Goenka, general manager of Mahindra & Mahindra, said that while he kept pace with what the minister said, the goal looked "ambitious ".
"We are unlikely to sell 14 to 15 million cars, but it is important that we are moving in that direction," Goenka said . ".
Gadkari's strong push for the industry is not unusual.
For example, China has told large local and foreign car companies that by next year, eight of their sales in the domestic market must be electric vehicles, which will reach by 2020.
However, there are two main obstacles to this: Customers will not turn to electric vehicles until the charging station infrastructure is established nationwide, and charging stations should now be as scattered as gasoline pumps.
Second, the price of lithium-ion batteries, which account for 30-40 of the cost of the car, must drop sharply, so the car is as cheap as a petrol car.
Also, the overall cost of running the vehicle should not be any different.
There are only 25 charging stations in the country, and another 400 (mainly in the capital region) are licensed by the government, and the infrastructure is seriously inadequate.
While the government has urged public sector companies such as power grid companies, national thermal power companies and Bharat Heavy power companies to step in, it is more of a pilot project.
Not cheap infrastructure-
It takes RS 3 to RS 4 to build a slow system (Rs 300,000 to RS 400,000)
Charging stations and Rs 20 (Rs 2 million) to build a fastcharger.
The question is: who will put the money, even if it is, will the government support the investment of the project through each subsidy of Rs 50 to 60 rupees, but the money is not enough to maintain a large amount of money.
Goenka said he wanted the government to help the industry in two ways: proactively building infrastructure and becoming a big buyer for such vehicles.
The government has taken initial measures in this regard. State-
Energy Efficiency Services, its own, has recently opened a public tender to set up 4,000 charging stations and purchase 10,000 electric cars for government use.
Gadkari announced that a comprehensive electric vehicle policy will be announced on December.
Another key factor is the price of the battery, and the challenge becomes even bigger because 75 of the cars sold in India are less than 4 m long and the price is less than 5 rupees 500,000 ).
However, the price of imported batteries is about Rs 140 km (Rs 300,000), which makes electric minicars uneconomical.
But this problem can be solved.
Battery prices are down 15-20 per year as global production grows and will continue to decline.
Companies like Suzuki have decided to set up a factory to make them, and it could fall by half.
The government has once again pushed for public sector action.
Thus, BHEL cooperated with the Indian Space Research Organization to produce lithium batteries.
However, most people in the industry agree that China is pushing the model of electric vehicles by issuing huge subsidies to cars --
Manufacturers are not sustainable.
Bhargava pointed out that the government cannot continue to provide support, especially as the number increases.
Earlier, the Chinese government offered 1 billion of the cost of cars as subsidies, costing more than $1 a year.
In India, however, the government provides about 25 cents in subsidies up to 1 rupee.
2 lakh (Rs 120,000), in addition to the benefits of the goods and services tax, for electric vehicles-makers.
It specifies RS 175 (Rs 1 ).
75 billion) 2017-
2018, up from Rs 75 (RS 0. 75 billion) in 2015, to support the industry.
But the subsidy model is unsustainable, and even China realizes that subsidies are too expensive.
It has now cut it to only 20 per cent and intends to gradually cancel it by 2020.
It also decided to support only a few big manufacturers so that it can have global players instead of 200-
By eliminating the smaller electric vehicles, the odd electric car players on the market.
The auto industry questioned the government's policies, especially when it decided to move from BS-
Emission specification for BS-
Six to 2020, two years in advance, there is no intermediate stage.
They said it would raise car prices significantly.
Industry experts said that while this will have a very serious impact on diesel vehicles, the increase in gasoline costs will be nominal, which seems to be in line with Gadkari's position.
They estimate that in the case of diesel, the impact could be as high as RS 1 (Rs 100,000) and would actually kill small cars powered by these engines.
But the impact on gasoline is not serious, about Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 per vehicle.
The bigger challenge will be to have the fuel needed for BS
VI is available through oil companies across the country.
The oil companies point out that they have to spend more than Rs 28,000 (RS 280 billion) to upgrade the refinery and expect fuel prices to rise.
The Association of auto parts manufacturers said that India's development of electric vehicles must be evolutionary, not subversive, so that local industries can develop the best technology for the future.