Electric Vehicles in India: A Novel Approach to Scale Electrification

Over the last few years, electric vehicles (EVs) have captured the imagination of people in many parts of the world. Approximately 1.1 million passenger EVs (cars) were sold in 2017, up by about 57% from the previous years. China contributed 600,000 vehicles, the United States had 200,000 and Europe 125,000. EV sales in Norway constituted 50% of all vehicle sales. Several nations have announced that their vehicles will be fully electric by 2025, 2030, or 2040. General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, and others demonstrated their EV ambitions by making major EV announcements, while Chinese automakers like BAIC and Changan announced they will sell only EVs after 2025. According to Bloomberg, the global EV sales will grow by 40% in 2018. U.S. sales are expected to exceed 300,000 units, and European sales should reach around 400,000, with Germany as the leader. China will lead the way in four-wheeled vehicle as well as electric bus sales. Beijing has committed to completely switch over its taxi fleet of around 70,000 vehicles by 2020. Moreover, by the end of 2018, charging infrastructure is expected to constitute almost 700,000 stations.