Invest in r&d of e cars not imports

Invest in r&d of e cars not imports

The Centre has invited global bids for 10,000 electric cars for use by government departments in the national capital region. We certainly need to accelerate usage of electric vehicles. However, the best way to spend money to this end is in solid research in battery technology, new materials to make car bodies lighter and stronger, self-driving technology and other subsystems, with the aim of securing for Indian industry a sizeable presence in the new breed of automobiles that would replace the traditional car.
Policy is needed to speedily replace the internal combustion engine, given to energy-wasting environmental damage, besides to breakdowns.
For India, the petroleum fuel in such engines is mostly imported, at huge and rising costs. Their replacement with electricity, even if generated with coal, would both save foreign exchange and use up less energy overall.
However, e-vehicles would mean massive societal and business dislocation, and total transformation of the huge auto ancillary sector. What’s required is proactive policy that enables the thriving auto ancillary clusters pan-India to have the chance to reconfigure their products and services for e-vehicles, or find entirely new niches of demand.
The conventional automobile engine has umpteen parts and ancillaries, which need to be regularly serviced, overhauled and repaired, providing a large employment opportunity.
e-Vehicles, with far fewer parts, would disrupt today’s auto sector. The projection is that e-vehicle usage will see exponential growth early in the next decade.
Already, one global auto major has announced that two-thirds of its cars would be electric or hybrids by 2020. The auto industry here needs gearing up as well. And the change must be driven by indigenous capacity, built through research.