The factor which decelerates the Indian EV industry
EVs Industry in India faces some road blockers.
EVs technology is now a day buzzing and also whispering into Indian automobile industry. But people who are less associated with this industry or say the car buyers are mainly concern about some down-points (down point only as per current situation of Indian electric vehicle industry) of EVs. Let’s discuss here about the major problem what Industry is facing for the EVs manufacturing, sales and service in India-
1. Manufacturing setup cost.
2. Lack of knowledge about EVs among sales executive at dealers.
3. Service knowledge of EVs at the service point.
4. Nascent phase of EVs technology-
a) Lack of charging infrastructure
2. Lack of knowledge about EVs among sales executive at dealers.
3. Service knowledge of EVs at the service point.
4. Nascent phase of EVs technology-
a) Lack of charging infrastructure
b) Completely different technology which is hard to accept for everyone
So,
Lets check the authenticity of every point mentioned above.
1. Manufacturing setup cost:
There are only few companies are relying on their own infrastructure to manufacture the complete electric vehicle. Many of the electric vehicles which are now on the Indian road either they are imported in ‘ready to assemble’ condition or major EVs components are called in assembled conditions from other countries. Even the bigger market players are not taking risk of huge investment. Mahindra electric is now manufacturing and assembling it all the parts in their Chennai located Mahindra Electric plant. But recently launched Hyundai Kona (launched at 09 July 2019 in India) is coming as a CKD. The same story is going on in 2 and 3 wheeler electric vehicle segment. This increases our dependency on other countries.
Electric vehicle manufacturing facility requires the high investment even there are less parts involved in the EVs as compared to any petrol or diesel vehicle. That because this complete technology is new and now it is not developed completely in India.
Future Aspect- Its all depends on the future demand of the electric vehicle in India. Parallel to the demand most of the players will setup the manufacturing facility into India to minimize the electric vehicle cost.
2) Lack of knowledge about EVs among sales executive at dealers.
Dealerships are also creating bottleneck on the road to EV adoption. Sales staff are not knowledgeable about EVs like they are having knowledge of petrol and diesel cars. This is also a point that many dealerships make little effort to present EVs to buyers as an option or their next choice of purchase. This problem popped out when electric vehicle reached to dealership. European countries was also facing this problem earlier in the initial stage of change over from ICE cars to electric. But there many other service provider companies are filling this gap. PlugStart providing its services in America since December 2016. PlugStart give training to the sales executive on the dealership and also provide the assistance to the buyer through its website, customer care service and dealership networks. OEMs also provides the training to their sales executive but one further setup can improved this whole process like BMW does it. BMW is having team that travels around the country and has regional training sessions, and each dealer has to have one or two BMW certified sales-people. I hope all OEMs in India also will be doing best job at investing in training to get their client advisers up to speed.3. Service knowledge of EVs at the service centers.
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| Representation Image: Local garage |
Well, each and every improvement related changes done at any R&D center of OEM is communicated to the company service center to ensure that the person working on ground level to service the vehicle is having all the engineering change information at vehicle level. This is a standard practice which every vehicle manufacturer follow. But those are all existing petrol or diesel vehicles manufacturers. Even local workshops mechanics are also capable to service any existing vehicle but EVs are being launched into market every week or months, very soon the serviceability will be a point of discussion. OEM need to open sufficient number of service centers along with the opening of new dealership/showroom/experience centers and local mechanics need to train themselves. There is a good scope here for a new emerging service provider company in India that could train all the local mechanics districts or state wise. But I am sure this problem will be taken care soon. The positive point with EVs is less service required as compared to the ICE vehicles. So, the service will not be an issue.
Other online service provider for car service companies are also taking interest into providing the EVs service facility to the customer. These companies are- GoMechanic, Pitstop, Cartisan, BookMyCarService and many other.4. Nascent phase of EVs technology- a) Lack of charging infrastructure
Lack of charging infrastructure may be the short term point of concern but the way other companies are working on it, will no more be a point of discussion. In India currently Tata Power, Ather Energy, Honeywell, EVPlugIn Charge, energy efficiency services limited (EESL) have already setup the charging faciliy. Some local charging startups are also providing charging services to 3 wheelers. But now India have to go long way to develop the advance charging technologies like fast/super charging and wireless charging for electric vehicle.
Technology transfer from European countries to the India specially US, UK, Germany, Austria and China. Those countries has developed the 200kW, 350kw, 400kW super chargers and even working on wireless fast charging technology. So, it will take time for India but yes those technologies will definitely come to India in near future.
The DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) develops 120kW wireless charging prototype which is having 97% efficiency. This technology can work in condition of even 6 inch allowable air gap between battery and coil. Further ORNL is working to develop the 200kW and 350kW wireless super charging technology.
SparkCharge has developed a portable and ultra-fast charger for electric vehicles. This portable charger work like any mobile power-back which we use in emergency or during travel.
Many other companies are working on charging technology. In India SHADO group has already launched a 3 wheeler “Erick” which get charged only in 5 minutes. So, with time this issue of EVs charging will definitely overcome.
b) Completely different technology which is hard to accept for everyone
This issue is just related to the human psychology. Every new technology seems abnormal and completely different in it first use but day comes when it becomes the part of our living. There are a lot of example from Bulky Computer to television, Telephone, Earlier version of automobile and lot many. But now we need to understand that the time has come to welcome new technology and accept its existence and future scope. Further to clarify and give a my complete word over this I will come with a new article in future. And this is very necessary to understand this because this is one of the mind blocker of any car customer and road blocker for the future of EVs.
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