IESW 2024: The roadblocks limiting India's EV offtake, and how to remove them

An exclusive conference session on the 'India EV Day' of the India Energy Storage Week (IESW) 2024 event traced the journey so far of the Indian EV segments and discussed on the emerging opportunities and challenges in the local EV industry, touching upon the investment potentials of the start-ups and entry of global EV manufacturers. 

The session, moderated by Debi Prasad Dash, Executive Director, IESA, deliberated on the growth story of EVs in India, and noted roadblocks that need resolution.  

Vikram Gulati, Country Head & Executive V.P. (Corporate Affairs & Governance) Toyota Kirloskar Motor, laid rest to fears about the variety of electrification technologies available in the mobility space. He said it might look like these technomogies are competing against each other and could cancel each other out, but that was not the case. 

"All these new technologies are complementary because they all require the electric powertrain," he declared. "The real issue is between these new technologies and the dominance of ICEs (conventional vehicles)." 

Suman Mishra, Managing Director & CEO, Mahindra Last Mile Mobility, spoke about the five big roadblocks that are affecting EV deployment in the last-mile scenario. 

Haresh Bhere, Chief Technology Officer, Jio-BP Mobility Ltd, spoke on on the needs of the fast charging industry. 

Christine Vincent, Venture Principal, Shell Ventures, provided an overview of Shell's approach towards the sector and learnings from activities so far and the company's investments in India, taking attendees across the company portfolio. 

Famous investor Vijay Kedia of  Kedia Securities explained why he was bullish on electrification: "They used to say, anything that can be ditigized will be ditigized, now they say anything that can be electrified will be electrified," he told the audience. 

He added his own bit of investment advice: Stay invested in a sunrise industry at any cost, stay out of a sunset industry at any cost. 

Sai Purusai told attendees the last time mobility industry underwent a similar kind of change "was 100 years back". Refering to Tesla's new plan. Tesla 3.0, he pointed out that Tesla is no longer an automobile company but an energy company. 

Amol Chavan of Hero MotoCorp said as the world's largest two wheeler company, Hero had a responsbility to make products as sustainable as possible and needed to enable customers to transition to electric mobility.  

The first-day of IESW 2024 is being observed as the 'India EV Day' focusing on EV manufacturing, EV components, charging infra, battery swapping, government policies, and international collaboration. The event also features an exhibition on EVs and related infrastructure, in association with the India Electric Mobility Council (IEMC). 

For the full coverage, visit indiaesa.info