[Aditya]

New Motion , a Dutch smart charging company, has announced that it will invest Rs. 1,000 crore in India. The company plans to set up a manufacturing facility in the country and aims to make it a global manufacturing hub.

Electric vehicles have not captured the imagination of Indians and the market for them has been miniscule. However, Europe is expected to have about 3 million electric vehicles over the next 5 years and New Motion believes that India will have even more.

New Motion's smart chargers are said to be able to charge about 80% of an electric car's batteries in 15-30 minutes. That's a lot more efficient than regular sockets which take 6-7 hours.
If the company manufactures its charging stations in India, it will be able to avail of various tax and duty benefits, which will in turn enable the company to make them more affordable for Indian customers.

So far, the Government of India has allotted funds of Rs. 1,000 crore for pilot projects. However, it is estimated that over the next 5-6 years, it will need to provide support in the region of Rs. 13,000-14,000 crore if it wants the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) to be a success.



Source: ET Auto

[mandywanders]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Electric vehicles have not captured the imagination of Indians and the market for them has been miniscule. However, Europe is expected to have about 3 million electric vehicles over the next 5 years and New Motion believes that India will have even more.

Its a harsh fact. No one seems to care about electric cars. Not the government, nor the people, including us. We can look at the number of posts that we have got on the Diesel Vehicles over 10 years ban and the number of posts here. Introducing viable electric cars at affordable prices has the potential to combat the air pollution problem much more efficiently and for a substantially longer term than a blanket ban on all vehicles.

[crisscross]

Mod Note : There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[Seran Manian]

Originally Posted by mandywanders

Its a harsh fact. No one seems to care about electric cars. Not the government, nor the people, including us. We can look at the number of posts that we have got on the Diesel Vehicles over 10 years ban and the number of posts here. Introducing viable electric cars at affordable prices has the potential to combat the air pollution problem much more efficiently and for a substantially longer term than a blanket ban on all vehicles.

One reason for us to keep away is the cost of ownership and more important one is that we are kept in dark about the life of the battery and the cost involved in changing them say after 3 or 4 years.

If these two things are okay then Electric vehicles can sure be used for day to day office routines for sure.

[jinojohnt]

Originally Posted by mandywanders

Its a harsh fact. No one seems to care about electric cars. Not the government, nor the people, including us.

I would like to buy the Reva. Enquired with a Reva owner in the apartment building where I live. He paid and on-road of 8.75 lakhs.
(There is no subsidy here, and no 'battery on rent scheme' either). What's the point in loving electric cars then? Would you buy an electric bicycle if it is priced at 20 Lakhs?

I feel the company is making a gamble by setting up charging stations in a country where the Government is least interested. Better to buy lottery tickets

[ajmat]

Where are the electric cars? Where are the people who buy them? Where is the power?

If they are harnessing solar energy, there is some merit but if they are sourcing from the power station, it is a case of merely shifting emissions from the exhaust pipe to the power station tower

[mandywanders]

I agree that we do not have affordable electric cars here and the government could do a lot more in promoting them. I would like to buy an electric car too or atleast a hybrid, but we as buyers do not have much choice thanks to the step motherly treatment of this technology. Except Reva how many electric cars are there in the sub 10lac bracket? No manufacturer is making them, not that I know of. My office is a good 37km away from my home and there aren't any facilities for charging the vehicles in the middle. I do not want to be stuck with a dead car without any charging options. The Reva does not cut it for me due to this reason only. I do believe electric cars or even hybrids can potentially solve problems to a greater extent than imposing superficial bans. Just my thoughts.

EDIT: Sir, if I may politely disagree with you, but there are people who do buy electric cars! There is a great ownership review of e20 by kamyfc. And some of us like me are also there who would like to buy. I know friend has just plonked 35 lacs to buy a Camry Hybrid and is extremely happy with his choice. So there are people who would buy. We just don't have options to choose from and no one seems to be interested in making or promoting them.

[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by ajmat

...

If they are harnessing solar energy, there is some merit but if they are sourcing from the power station, it is a case of merely shifting emissions from the exhaust pipe to the power station tower

The shifting of source of emissions is an exaggeration. Every one conveniently forgets the power requirements of oil drilling, refining, transporting and delivery systems. Oil uses power at every stage and then ends up polluting further during burning.

When we look as a whole, The power requirements and the associated emissions of electric vehicles do not look as bad as publicised by oil companies.

[GTO]

While I always welcome investment in this country, I'm just wondering what business sense it makes.

Are electric cars currently selling in India? No.

Are there any promising electric vehicles on the radar? No.

Do Indians change their habits easily? No.

Who is going to charge what at their stations?! I hope New Motion also knows that real estate is very expensive in India, as are Government permissions.

Logically, I think they're just going to manufacture here for international markets. China is no longer the king of cheap labour. It's anyway a small company with presence only in the Netherlands, Belgium & Germany. I don't expect them to be a game-changer in any way.

[VeluM]

Not only does it need support from the Government, but it also needs support from car manufacturers. Something like an Indian Tesla, manufacturing a beautiful car with decent performance and capacity at a reasonable price, and it will sell. The current lot of electric cars are city-use-only, and India is mostly a one-family-per-car market. Cars therefore have to be up to performing as a frugal people carrier for city and highway transport.

Subsidies will kick-start the sale of good electric vehicles, and volumes will bring down battery prices. Then hopefully increased investment will improve the range with existing battery capacity rather than having to load more and more batteries, or charge them so often.

On a side note, how does one manage to charge a battery faster than it chemically can? Is it by using at higher A to charge multiple smaller batteries in parallel?

[cooldude1988765]

Originally Posted by Aditya

The company plans to set up a manufacturing facility in the country and aims to make it a global manufacturing hub.

I think that is where most of the 1000 crore will go.
Hopefully the new government's policy of make in India takes off and we see more such investments.

On a lighter note they have to think of something really innovative to prevent power theft if and when they do set up charging points in India