ETN Roundtable: India will easily surpass 30 percent electrification before 2030
Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, President and MD of Customized Energy Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., opined that access to finance and scale of investments are critical for the Indian EV industry to scale up while addressing safety concerns like that of battery fires can boost confidence among investors.
At the latest ETN Roundtable webinar titled 'Investment for Indian EV Acceleration', the panelists discoursed investment-related roadblocks to India's target of achieving 30 percent electrification of automobiles by the year 2030.
Speaking at the online event, Dr. Walawalkar, who is also the president of India Energy Storage Alliance said that the 30 percent electrification target seems pretty low, given the significant traction in both industry and policy circles about strengthening the EV ecosystem, India might easily surpass the target way before 2030.
"A majority of roadblocks to the establishment of vibrant ecosystems are getting addressed. EV and battery technologies have already reached a maturity level where they are ready for different customer applications. Technologies will keep on improving and scaling-up will happen further", he noted.
Adding on, he said, "Access to finance and reaching out to the right audience for investments is important. The scale of investments is also critical. Addressing certain safety concerns including fire risks of EVs and batteries can go a long way in boosting investors' confidence in the EV ecosystem".
Given that certain segments like E2Ws and E3Ws have already reached ideal consumer demand and that most of the leading OEMs are pre-booked with orders for several months, scaling-up manufacturing to meet the emerging demand in the coming years is going to be a big challenge, he opined.
Dr. Rahul Walawalker also pointed out that huge chunks of EV-related investments in India so far are largely from startups and fresh investors, and that established OEMs and traditional investors have been taking a slower path. "The next 12-18 months is likely to be a defining period in this regard, as more and more traditional automakers are significantly investing to bring out their EV platforms and product lines across the segments", he said.
