Electric Vehicles are far in the Future for India

With the rising threat that the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles possess to the environment, efforts are being made across the globe to replace them with electric vehicles (EV). Electric Vehicles create zero emissions as no fuel is being burned. Also, no matter how bitter the truth is, fossil fuel reserves are limited. So the future belongs to the EVs, vehicles that create negligible noise and zero-emission. EV manufacturers have foreseen this and have already lined up a range of EVs. Influences from government and global bodies are also responsible for this. Manufacturers like Tata, Maruti-Suzuki, Ather, Okinawa, Hero, etc, have already lined up their range of EVs in India but they are not getting as much popularity as their ICE counterpart. Although many countries have already started adopting EVs, the transformation lies way far in the future for developing countries like India. Many might disagree with this but here are the reasons why Electric Vehicles are far in the future for India:

• Price: The consumers of India expect tremendous value for money products. But being a new technology, the price of EVs at present is not at par the price that the Indian consumers are willing to pay.
• Infrastructure: To be able to recharge the batteries of the EVs at a lesser time, fast-charging stations are necessary. But there are not many fast-charging stations across India. Some cities do not even have any charging stations for EVs.
• Electricity: There is no hiding from the fact that even in 2020, there are places in the country that do not have electricity. Even in the places with electricity, it is not constant. There might be power cuts for many hours or even for days.
• Lack of Battery Disposal Facility: The lithium-ion battery packs in EVs have a life span, meaning that at the end of its life-cycle, the battery packs need to be replaced. But, lithium-ion batteries, if not disposed off properly can possess serious threat to the environment. Lithium-ion is highly reactive with oxygen and can cause explosions. Moreover, it can cause both soil and water pollution as it is highly toxic.
• Source of Electricity: In India almost three fourth of the countries electricity demand is fulfilled by power plants powered by coal, a fossil fuel that negatively impacts the environment right from its extraction till its use. So, the use of coal is directly related related to the growth in demand for electricity and until it is replaced by other eco-friendly sources of energy it will continue to be so.

To conclude, no matter how technologically advance and aesthetically pleasing the EVs become, the possibility of them to become a successful relies on the above-stated factors.