How Electric Vehicles Can Contribute To A Greener And More Liveable Planet
India's automobile industry is undergoing a revolution with the advent of electric mobility and its increased adoption among consumers and fleet owners. The contribution of electric vehicles (EVs) to the environment is worth appreciating as it can contribute significantly to reducing vehicular pollution and thereby improve air quality through lower emissions, ensuring a better, healthier place for people to live in. The EV industry has gained significant traction in several major states within the country such as Gujarat, Delhi, and Maharashtra offering attractive incentives and subsidies to enable the transition and support the development of EV charging infrastructure. All these efforts can play a significant role in lowering greenhouse gas emissions and building a decarbonized society.
With the transition from fossil-fuelled vehicles to electric vehicles and companies launching new EVs, a key ingredient to success is the availability of EV charging infrastructure on a massive scale. These are still early days and India still lacks a robust EV charging ecosystem that can give consumers and fleet owners the confidence to rapidly adopt and transition to EVs. What India needs is highly scalable and cost-effective EV charging solutions (backed by scalable technology) supported by the transition to a clean energy grid to protect the environment, lower emissions and bring the very elevated levels of air pollution under control.
How do emissions impact the planet?
Traditional petrol and diesel vehicle emissions comprise of Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrocarbons (HC), and Nitrogen oxide (NO). As they are present in exhaust gases, the emissions along with the particulate matter (PM) are exceptionally harmful to air quality. The pollutants in engine emissions from vehicles cause air pollutants and contribute to the formation of acid rain. As per the Centre for Science and Environment, air pollution contributed to around 1.6 million deaths in 2019. EVs help eliminate toxic tailpipe emissions and lower PM2.5 (particles smaller than 2.5 microns) and PM10 (particles smaller than 10 microns) emissions, contributing to cleaner air. Promoting transition to EVs wherever possible in different vehicle formats makes sense as an effective way to promote a safer and cleaner environment.
How do EV charging stations fulfill destination charging needs?
The EV industry has already witnessed heightened interest from consumers and strong policy support by various governments, pushing the adoption of electric vehicles. With 1700+ charging stations [MOU1]in public spaces at present, a significant ramp up in EV charging stations can help address the issue of range anxiety and availability of charging facilities, driving further adoption. These charging stations need to be available at convenient locations, allowing ease of access and use.
Destination charging can be a great way to ensure that EV charging facilities are available to users wherever they go. They make charging easy, ubiquitous, and reliable as people can charge their electric vehicles anywhere, like at home, workplace, shopping centers, metro stations, etc. Importantly, they can leverage available infrastructure and offer an idle time charging solution at minimal to no upfront costs with usage based fare models.
Such charging solutions are quick to deploy (require minimal time for installation), exceptionally easy to use, and can be made compatible with all OEM electric vehicles. Scalability of solutions can help ramp up the availability of charging solutions and help drivers overcome range and charge anxieties. Innovative EV charging solutions can further motivate people across the country to purchase electric vehicles without worrying about charging stations' unavailability.
In a nutshell
EV adoption can plan a significant role in helping drive towards and clean and green environment through lower emissions. A concerted effort by EV charging solution providers and the Government, both at the Centre and the States, can undoubtedly nurture a massive EV charging ecosystem and drive EV adoption which would contribute significantly toward a greener mother Earth.
1,700 charging stations operational in public places across the country, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Lok Sabha recently
