[Hayek]

Let’s wait for actual regulations to come. To extent this is the government making noises ahead of the G20 to say we are doing something for the environment, it makes immense sense. But actually changing regulations to force premature electrification would be immensely stupid.

India need to be followers on EV technology - not waste resources building the inefficient EVs of today. EVs are environmentally friendly IF fueled by renewable energy. But the bulk of our energy is from coal - which makes EVs dirtier in terms of carbon emissions than a petrol / diesel hybrid car.

Further, our grids are not designed to support EV charging on a mass scale. Firstly, we are still short of energy - plenty of Indians still don’t get electricity to run a few 40W light bulbs, so how will we power Tesla superchargers whose peak load is 250 KW? I live in a very affluent society in Mumbai - and my connected load is just 24 KW. So one Tesla supercharger would be the equivalent of 10 homes like mine. A mere 15000 Teslas would consume power equivalent to Mumbai’s peak demand of 3700 MW. Even a Nissan Leaf fast charger consumes 50KW, so 75000 Leafs would require doubling Mumbai’s connected load. The fact is that mass adoption of EVs would require mass reimagination of the electric grid - that is true for developed markets like Germany and more true for us.

[Lovelydude77]

I agree with Hayek, We need combination of Renewable and Nuclear power generation options to make EV *nearly* environmental friendly. Govt can lay foundation for EV adoption but they immediately need to act on :
1. Fast, reliable Electric Public transport (READ METRO for cities and RAILWAYS for inter-city). Look at delhi, car is needed only on weekends for family outings.
2. Electricity generation using Renewable and Nuclear (not just of transport, air conditioning is going to drain alot also).

[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

2. Does anyone know how all these battery operated electric rickshaws that are not in abundance get charged? I have talked to 2 or 3 of these drivers and everyone has told me the same thing that there are multiple illegal charging stations where they are tapping power directly from an electric pole (or similar) and charge a flat rate from these people to charge. No receipt or any accountability whatsoever. It must be such a huge loss in terms of revenue with all that theft. Now imagine all the cabbies too resorting to such facilities and they will fur sure as the moral fibre is non-existent in our country.

The smallest battery that comes in eVerito/Tigor is 16KWHh. Such illegal tappings will need 9+ hours to charge that battery from normal poles. Not all cabbies will be comfortable leaving their car at night for that much time at an illegal place for charging just to save < Rs 100 for a full charge; of course there will be quite a few who will be okay to do that, but will not be in majority.

Fast chargers which charge the vehicle in an hour start at 25kW units going upto 250 KW for Tesla type super chargers. One cant tap such power from normal electricity poles as these need 3 phase connection with dedicated transformers and sophisticated charging units. Tapping such amount of power illegally will definitely trigger some fuses at the distribution side and is easy for the distribution companies to identify and track the theft.

[Miyata]

There was this wonderful article with an equally wonderful title - Electric Cars Could Destroy the Electric Grid—or Fix It Forever.

I guess this process of EV growth might be the one that enables upgrading our grid infrastructure and expanding it while integrating various power sources (renewable and non-renewables).

The other parallel growth that seems to be coming along is the railway electrification. The long term prospects surely seem forcefully progressive.

[sajaijayan]

Mod Note : Please do NOT post messages that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the quality of this forum. We advise you to read the Forum Rules before proceeding any further. Request to post ONLY when you have something substantial to add to a discussion.