The automotive sector around the world is experiencing a new phenomenon in the form of electric vehicles, which is being celebrated on large scale for the purpose of environmental goodness and cost efficiency in the coming future.
Summing up the whole EV industry Raghavendra Vaidya, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Daimler Truck Innovation Center India (DTICI), said ‘‘There are three things in the industry, one is the product whether it's a car or truck, second is the price parity and last is the infrastructure for generation, transmission, storage and usage, all three have to come together.’’
While talking about the industry, Anil Srivastava, Professor of Practice, IIT Kanpur, Director, Epsilon Advanced Materials and Former Principal Advisor & Director General, Niti Aayog said that for the first-time government has moved faster than the industry and now the EV industry has to come forward. Srivastava mentioned that more component manufacturers are coming into the market and industry as new players.
While he also added that there are a couple of challenges in the form of localisation and the needed proactiveness of government as the industry moves ahead.
Answering the sustainability part of the EV, Atul Jairaj, Director, Consulting, Deloitte India said that as per the visibility around the e-mobility journey, he is pretty confident that we will find a way to make it sustainable. Jairaj also accepted and further added, ‘‘We still have challenges to overcome that is around infrastructure, consumer demand, the readiness of people to invest but eventually we will sustain.’’
Dr Parveen Kumar, Senior Program Manager - Electric Mobility, WRI India said that the EV sector is taking shape in India and globally, technology is evolving and innovation taking place in addressing the challenges. Kumar pointed out and said, ‘‘Cross-sectoral collaboration is very critical for the EV sector to address the challenges related to technology, business model side and financing, so the efficient decision can be taken by the stakeholders.’’
Kumar also mentioned the importance of capacity building for the growth of the EV Sector.