Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister launched a dashboard for Data on Adoption and Forecast of Electric Vehicles

Introduction

Sh. R.K Singh, the Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy recently launched an Electronic – Vehicle Ready India Dashboard[1] named “evreadyindia.org” with the objective of developing a freely digital platform that shall be focused on promoting the adoption of electric vehicles along with looking into charging densities, vehicle adoptions, growth trends of the market and other associated trends.

The program and the fundamentals behind the platform are based upon the data available with the government, the user-provided data along with artificial intelligence (AI) which shall seek to address the growing demands of electronic vehicles in the country along with promoting the industry in the years to come. Presently, it has been forecasted by the EV–Ready India dashboard that a compound annual growth rate of 45.5% shall be witnessed between the years of 2023 and 2030.

It was emphasized by the Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy that the future of the industry shall be electric and once adequate arrangements for promoting and sustaining such vehicles are developed across the country, petrol and diesel SUVs will no longer be the norm across the country, hinting towards a future of automobile industry based completely upon a non – fossil fuel approach. There are numerous key – features of the EV Ready Dashboard which are as follows:

• The dashboard shall display the consolidated sale data for all the 34 states having Vahan facilities and Union Territories for the policy makers which shall be in easily decipherable language and present trends based upon vehicle form factors, industry, states and other parameters.
• There shall be a comprehensive and holistic display of all policies, notifications, notices, and other relevant data pertaining to electronic vehicles from the side of electronic vehicle manufacturers, government, and various departments having their stakes in the process of research & development, maintenance, and sales of such vehicles.
• It shall also display the benefits for EV buyers which shall include their savings in terms of upkeep costs, purchase prices, overview of charging infrastructure and tariffs varying from state – to – state basis.

The Government of India has also laid deep emphasis upon the environmental and social benefits of electric vehicles which shall act as a growth catalyst for a growing economy like India as well as aid in the process of reducing the carbon footprint of India. This shall also act as a major milestone for India’s mark in the global world by becoming the only major economy worldwide to have the slowest growth rate of carbon footprints.

Even though the benefits of EVs cannot be undermined, the system poses significant challenges for the production, maintenance and upkeep of the vehicles too since the majority of the resources are tied up in different countries and this increases the costs associated with the manufacture of such vehicles. There is a need to shift from the conventional lithium – ion batteries for India along with adopting other efficient chemical-based systems for developing low – cost in house vehicles across the country.

[1] https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1968137#:~:text=EV%2DReady%20India%20dashboard%20forecasts,EVs%20in%20India%20by%202030&text=The%20Union%20Minister%20for%20Power,org)%20in%20New%20Delhi%20today