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Old 7th November 2015, 15:17   #1
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Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Came across this article in AutocarPro on the Indian Government's plan to develop Electric Vehicle Platforms.

In summary:
  • Part of the already existing FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles) scheme.
  • Instead of just providing incentives, the government has picked the baton of building EV platforms.
  • Plan is to Develop indigenous EV platforms for Two-Wheelers, Cars and commercial vehicles. Target to launch commercially within 2 years. Investment of 1600 crore
  • Major OEM's are on board and part of the research and development. Each OEM can brand and sell the approved prototypes. But the underlying framework and components will be standard. (Assume it is like our Android Phones).
  • Primary focus on 2 wheelers where currently most EV's in the market use imported components.
  • Second focus is cars. The major players in the EV market world wide are not looking at India as a viable option nor are they creating platforms with India in mind. This project hopes to overcome that.
  • Third focus is the commercial sector.


Quote:
In line with its thrust on popularizing electric/hybrid mobility in the country, the government is indigenously developing a host of electric vehicle platforms ranging from two-wheelers, small cars to commercial vehicles and plans to launch fully operational EVs within the next two years.
Source: Autocarpro

Last edited by GTO : 9th November 2015 at 17:20. Reason: Keeping the fair usage policy in mind, it's best to share an excerpt + link to full article. Thanks
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Old 7th November 2015, 18:59   #2
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re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Ooh, good way forward, seems that the Tesla visit has paid off or started a spark.

Yeah , yeah. Public money being spent and electricity infrastructure not withstanding, this is a good initiative by the GOI and will boost or force the major players to really look into the electric way, instead of going premium like Tesla or going for the hydrogen like Toyota and Honda.

Not really sure how effective this would be, waiting for the expert TBHPians for their say on the project.
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Old 7th November 2015, 23:05   #3
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re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Why they are reinventing the wheel?

Shouldn't bringing the import duties of hybrid cars to minimal amount for 3-5 years do the trick? ( Hybrid cars must have gone through minimum 3 product versions in there countries ) . Hybrid civic, Prius were dead on the first day due to pricing.

We the "Kitna deti hai?" mentality Indians will definitely prefer car with higher mileage. Once they get mass popularity the manufacturers will be forced to bring it in the mass scale and finally to a cheaper price.

Government should focus on removing the insanity in traffic by putting proper infrastructure rather than building vehicles. We already have lot of companies for that.

Last edited by GTO : 9th November 2015 at 17:21. Reason: Typos
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Old 7th November 2015, 23:39   #4
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re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Electric vehicles are NOT the way forward. Fuel cell vehicles are.

In a 3rd world nation where most cities reel under severe power and electricity shortage, the govt decides to put money into an EV platform? What are people smoking these days?!? Must be something real exotic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajeevraj View Post
...[*]Plan is to Develop indigenous EV platforms for Two-Wheelers, Cars and commercial vehicles. Target to launch commercially within 2 years...
And please, in two years? Seriously?

I'm willing to bet my annual salary for 2 years that I can diet, and lose up to 20 kilos in 2 years, but these jokers will not have anything concrete to show end of the timeline. Mark my words, and mark 'em well.
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Old 7th November 2015, 23:50   #5
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re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Quote:
Originally Posted by hrishig View Post
We the "Kitna deti hai?" mentality Indians will definitely prefer car with higher mileage.
Let me tell you one thing, every car customer walking into a car showroom in the US, his/her first question would be: "How much MPG"? How much does the car give for one gallon of fuel?

In addition, the car commercials here in the US, announce loud and clear "gives to 40MPG on highways and 34MPG in urban areas.

I think its high time we STOP joking about the way we Indians think about their cars. Just my personal observations and no hard feelings
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Old 8th November 2015, 21:08   #6
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re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Quote:
Originally Posted by sourav9385 View Post
Electric vehicles are NOT the way forward. Fuel cell vehicles are.

In a 3rd world nation where most cities reel under severe power and electricity shortage, the govt decides to put money into an EV platform? What are people smoking these days?!? Mark my words, and mark 'em well.
It would be wise to read a bit about the efficiency of fuel cells and compare that to a electric motor before posting a definitive opinion.
Electric vehicles are going to become competitive in India very soon. Electricity shortage is a problem but not in every part of the country. If you read the article, you'd see that the program is a collaborative one and the GOI role is supporting the R&D. Tata has already made EV/Hyvrid versions of its Manza and the car has been tested in the UK. University of Warwick is supporting it I think.
Fuel imports are a big drain of foreign exchange and pollution levels are going to become unmanageble in the next decade. Even if they take 3 years instead of 2, the benefits would outweigh the costs.
The Prius is not as efficient as it is made out to be. I spoke to a Taxi driver here and he said it is cheaper to run a Diesel Sonata/i40 than a Prius.
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Old 9th November 2015, 17:41   #7
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Re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Quote:
Originally Posted by MercFan View Post
Let me tell you one thing, every car customer walking into a car showroom in the US, his/her first question would be: "How much MPG"? How much does the car give for one gallon of fuel?
I completely support your point of view. These days, the general car enthusiasts seem to think our general public buys Marutis only for mileage.

Actually "Kitna deti hai?" has become a common phrase in our culture.
Just like speaking about weather, drivers in general (two-wheelers, passenger cars / cabs) use the topic of fuel economy, as a trigger to begin a small chat.
Think about it. Have you heard cab drivers speaking about fuel economy? Similarly, hired drivers of privately owned cars speaking about mileage? Why do they even care? Someone else pays for the expenses, anyway! Reason: It helps to initiate a talk. Just like sports news or politics.
For car owners, who spend from their pockets, it matters even more, because, instead of their high end car giving 8 kmpl, if it starts giving 4 kmpl, their fuel expenses doubles!
Nobody actually buys a car in India just because it is certified 1 kmpl more than other cars in the ARAI mileage. If so, Celerio Diesel would be the top selling car by now, irrespective of its irrelevant engine.
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Old 9th November 2015, 21:27   #8
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Re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Quote:
Originally Posted by MercFan View Post
Let me tell you one thing, every car customer walking into a car showroom in the US, his/her first question would be: "How much MPG"? How much does the car give for one gallon of fuel?
)
They might still ask that question, but fact remains, most often, statistically speaking, that question is asked in the Ford Show room when they are looking at an F150 pick up truck. Still the most sold car in the USA with appaling MPG figures.

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Old 10th November 2015, 05:49   #9
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Re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Quote:
Originally Posted by sourav9385 View Post
Electric vehicles are NOT the way forward. Fuel cell vehicles are.

In a 3rd world nation where most cities reel under severe power and electricity shortage, the govt decides to put money into an EV platform? What are people smoking these days?!? Must be something real exotic.
And how do you plan to power those Fuel Cells? Hydrogen?
Then how do you plan to make that Hydrogen?

It is a rather big misconception that Fuel Cells + Hydrogen can power the future. Fuel Cell + Hydrogen is just an energy storage device (just like the Li-Ion battery used in today's Hybrids ). But it is very inefficient when compared to Li-Ion.

It is true that today's Power Grid cant handle the sudden influx of electric vehicles in India. But it is nothing that we cant take care of. (If you think in same way, India was no where prepared for the 'sudden influx' of computes in the 80s. )

One major advantage of Electric vehicles over Hydrogen/Hydrocarbon powered vehicles is that, they don't need the thousands of fuel trucks roaming in our roads, filling up the fuel stations in every nook and cranny of our country. The already existing (and soon to be upgraded ) power line will distribute the 'fuel'.
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Old 13th November 2015, 13:50   #10
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Re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

Really not sure about what is common. Batteries, motors ? They also talk about specifications. Will the OEMs invest in a common production facility for these components?

With 1600 crore of govt money, I thought we will have more details on this. They could have identified the road blocks in the current setup (electric power generation being the biggest) and tried to overcome those instead.
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Old 13th November 2015, 15:05   #11
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Re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

The optimist in me tells that if this is a successful venture, we will soon obliterate the commercial smoke spewing lorry and the three-wheel load carriers, not to mention a more silent drive on our roads.

The pessimist in me tells that this is going to be another 20 year venture ridden with corruption, slug-fests and bloodbaths with very little to show at the end like our other government run competencies (albeit, there are exceptions).

The realist in me tells that the commercial vehicles manufacturers will quietly force the government to pass on the buck to the passenger car segment and we will bear the brunt of another tax on top of whatever we are already paying.
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Old 15th November 2015, 17:05   #12
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Re: Government to launch indigenously developed electric vehicle platforms

They should invest in or do a tie up with Revolo. It seems to be a good starting point for this initiative. Maybe even offer manufcturers some subsidies if they offer the Revolo as a standard fitment.

That said, there hasnt been any news coming out on the REvolo since the past couple of years. Werent they supposed to launch it in 2015 ?
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