Indian EV market to grow in double digits: Assocham

The Indian electric vehicles (EV) market is expected to grow at double digit rates till 2020, while the nascent telematics market is also poised to develop at a much faster rate, industry chamber Assocham said on Sunday.

The EV industry in the country is at a nascent stage, comprising less than one per cent of total vehicle sales and is dominated at 95 per cent by two-wheelers, an Assocham study done with global advisory services firm EY said.

"Stricter emission norms, reducing battery prices and increasing consumer awareness are driving EV adoption in India, while EVs are not yet mainstream, government push and other indications point to a growing momentum," stated the study titled "Electric mobility in India: Leveraging collaboration and nascency".

The report, however, noted the urgent need for creating charging infrastructure at a rapid pace "as it is the determining factor for growth of EVs".

"The required need at this point in time is the presence of related support industry and infrastructure as it will help the charging infrastructure thrive."

The study also said that, as compared to public charging, home charging would still continue to be the dominant source with a share of nearly 70 per cent in 2030.

"There is a growing need for a national regulated rate that can be applicable to all charging stations across India," it said.

Besides, EV adoption will be highly dependent on the pace of fall in battery costs as EVs are significantly more expensive than traditionally propelled vehicles due to high cost of lithium ion batteries.

"With improvement in technology and manufacturing efficiency, the cost is expected to decline to $100/kWh by 2023," the report said with regard to batteries.

India does not have any policy framework or mechanism for the battery recycling and second use market, the statement said.

"There is a need for long-term supply-side incentives that attract desired investments required for EV deployment," it added.

Describing telematics as essential for EVs, Assocham said: "Growing use of telematics across multiple services such as EV to grids interaction, fleet/asset management, navigation and location-based systems, insurance, V2V, V2X systems, remote alarm and incidence monitoring, and safety and security, telematics is poised to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.2 per cent till 2020."

Telematics is supporting new generation intelligent transport solutions by embedding intelligence into vehicles using sensors and chips and improving communication between different stakeholders to provide real-time decision support through interconnected networks.

According to Assocham, the global market size of telematics will be around $47.6 billion in 2020 from $20.02 bn in 2015, while 88 per cent penetration of global integrated telematics for new cars is expected to be achieved by 2022.

--IANS

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