OUT OF CHARGE

INDIA'S ELECTRIC vehicle story (EV) is unravelling fast. Electric car sales in fiscal 2018 declined 40 per cent – just 1,200 units, even as the government is pushing for at least a third of all new car sales by 2030 to be EVs. This is hardly a surprise for industry watchers. There’ve been many flipflops and still no proper policy.

The only silver lining was the doubling in sale of electric two wheelers in the fiscal to over 50,000 units – though this was largely due to the shift from the lead acid to lithium ion batteries. The bottom- line is clear. A proper policy with subsidies and a blue print for setting up charging infrastructure for electric vehicles may not be a prerequisite for two wheelers but without that, the electric car dream is a non- starter.