Electric cars have been a concept which sounded like a distant reality in the early 2000s. But today, after various researchers working on selling the concept in the automobile industry, it has not remained as far- fetched as it seemed years ago. In India, the automobile industry contributes a significant amount to the overall GDP of the country. It is the greatest manufacturing industry that India has and therefore it is necessary to know about the trends which may come into this industry which will later affect the economy and society at large.
In 2019, an article posted by the leading newspaper The Hindu covered a piece on the penetration of electric cars into the automobile industry. As suggested in the report, NITI Aayog has formulated a draft proposing a ban on all the three wheeler vehicles that run on internal combustion machines. This draft was an outcome of the promising models generated by researchers on electric cars. But this draft was critically analyzed by the economists and made a point of economic feasibility for the technology to be adapted in India. We shall look into the point later in the article.
Let us understand about these electric cars which are becoming so famous in countries like Japan and America. The making of the electric cars had a higher objective to shift the population towards a more sustainable form of using vehicles. It is clearly revealed that cars running on natural resources like petrol and diesel emit a significant amount of Carbon dioxide which adds itself with the greenhouse gases like methane to ultimately affect the ozone layer and increase the temperature on earth. Due to the constant threat of the changing climate resulting in erratic climatic conditions and inducing phenomena like melting of glaciers, high intensity flood and inconsistent rainfall, the idea of reducing the emission of carbon dioxide came. Electric cars are a good option to reduce the usage of natural resources by switching to a more advanced technology of using electricity to commute.
Coming to the applicability of the concept in India, there are a few things to keep in mind. As a developing country India might not be able to sell the product to all the sections of the society. But also as a country which is nourishing startup founders and trying to diversify in the global market, electric cars can be feasible for the said population. In India an average electric car can cover a distance of 100kms with 15kWh of electricity. This is a convincing figure for the aspiring buyers of these cars. In India, the connectivity for places can be accessed through public transport like airplanes and railways therefore an electric car could be initially used to cover a distance less than 100kms. These cars could be initially used to make short journeys in the beginning and later could be advanced to cover a greater distance.
It may sound that the cars would not be affordable by customers when it would come into the market, but it is important to mark the clients who would be interested in acquiring an asset like this. In India, Bangalore is the IT hub where most of the population is leaned towards technologies which are fascinating in nature. Due to the industry in Bangalore, there are people who earn under a range of salary which is good enough to maintain the new technological cars. So it becomes necessary for the companies to locate their potential customers based on a good mapping of the temperament and the income of the people living in an area. Bangalore should definitely be checked for the clients to set the footprints of the electric cars in India.
With the electric cars becoming famous in the Bangalore city, there will be a magnetic shift in the entire automobile market. As a city which has an operational second hand car’s market, there could be a shift in the entire system in the long term. Undoubtedly, the electric cars would be first owned by the people who could afford it. But with time, these cars might get sold off at a cheaper rate as any other 2nd Hand Car in Mumbai. These pre-owned cars in Bangalore would be taken by people who might not be able to bear the original cost of the electric cars. This will create a supply chain of these new generation cars in the city. In the long run, this shift could be seen resulting in an eco-friendly manner of transportation.
As these cars promise a certain level of luxury with being cost effective on a long term basis, customers would build up overtime. Since the IT city already has an established car market which also has the segment for pre-owned cars in Bangalore, coming of these new cars will fill the spaces with electric cars. It won’t be long when car drivers can be seen using electric cars, including the coming of electric taxis.
Coming back to the broader automobile industry in India, it is known that it has been stagnant for over 50 years. Therefore, there is a need to revamp the industry and an effective way of doing it is by inviting the electric cars. And with the electric cars coming in with their several benefits, the existing auto-mobile industry will be dominated by the trend. It has happened in technologically advanced countries like Japan where the new age cars are gaining high recognition and are becoming more affordable which is changing the dynamics of the automobile industry. It would be required that adequate research is made and the supply and demand chain of these cars be studied. Cities like Bangalore should be explored for the commodity and it might just be a matter of time when these cars would start having a good demand in developing countries like India.