Electrical vehicle powertrain study: Supply chain preparedness from Indian perspective

Abstract

This project started with focus on getting an understanding on what is this new revolution that is expected in the mobility sector. EVs offer some realistic advantages over the traditional automobiles. The obvious one being environmentally friendly. However, they offer other benefits such better pickups and easy on the pocket for day to day running. However, their initial costs, range of vehicle and general trust in the new technology are still lacking. The focus then shifted to how EV has so far been adopted globally and in India. Globally, countries leading the chart with EV adoption are China, USA, Europe, Japan and India. These countries have strict pollution norms and supportive policy framework for growth of EVs. Many countries have decided to ban IC engine vehicles by 2050. At the same time globally OEMs have also set targets for themselves to go completely electric by such time frames. EV adoption in India has also been on the rise with over 5 lakh EVs registered in India so far. EV market in India has so far been led by 2W and 3Ws. The FAME II scheme by Government of India has been a major support system for EVs in India. Along with that there have also been some state policies that have helped lucrative for EV manufacturing and demand creation. However, given the kind of targets the Government of India had initially set out for itself, these numbers have been somewhat lacking. As part of this study, we carried out primary and secondary research on some EV OEMs in India. For 2W executives at Ather Energy and Bajaj Auto were interviewed. For 4W, executives at Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors were interviewed. Findings from these interviews have been mentioned in this report. As an overview, many traditional OEMs have started working on getting EV vehicles to market and develop inhouse capabilities. However, one must notice that the largest manufacturer of automobiles in India has no plans so far to introduce EVs in India in the near future. Our focus then shifted to components of EV powertrain and battery since they constitute the major costs for an OEM. Both these seem as lucrative options for someone trying to get into the supply chain of EVs. Finally, these two options have been proposed to TKAP for pursuance in the future.