New Delhi, January 11, 2019: Speaking at the Energy Storage India (ESI) 2019, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that there should not be any road tax for electric vehicles. He also went ahead to point out that these initiatives are being taken to bring the ownership cost of electric vehicles at par with combustion vehicles.
“We have proposed to the Chief Secretaries of the states that there should be no road tax for electric vehicles and issuing green permit for EVs. When the EV revolution happens, India would be impacted in the biggest way. For India to successfully move away from fossil-fuel dependence, oil companies should become the energy companies of the future,” said Kant.
At ESI 2019, policy makers and auto companies voice their stand on realities of electric mobility in India. While policy makers assured that right support is being provided for the smooth transition into electric mobility and Make in India. The automobile industry highlights the unique Indian challenges and right direction desired from the government.
“Energy storage can also fuel public transport revolution in a big way. We have proposed pay per kilometre model for buses to transform the public transportation system. Also, a huge opportunities lies in the conversion of goods mobility fleets to clean fuels such as LNG, as 78 per cent of goods in India are transported through lorries. India must seize the 81 per cent value that lies in battery manufacturing. Energy storage and battery present a huge opportunity which we should capitalise, since India will be driving the growth of the auto sector in the future.”
Chairing the EV 360 session at ESI 2019, Anil Srivastava, Director General, NITI Aayog said, “There is a genuine question from the people regarding the implementation and usability of the electric vehicles, but there is a massive disruption that will happen fairly soon. A lot of policies have been made to accommodate advance products and systems but success cannot be achieved till we reach the scale our country has to offer. With over 20 favourable policies in place, not a single part used in electric two wheelers is being made in India. We are here to support the industry in every possible way so as to encourage indigenous manufacturing.”
Stressing on the importance of ESI in making India a global hub for advanced energy storage manufacturing, Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, Executive Director, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) expressed that, with the anticipated launch of national energy storage and by creating polices for an accelerated energy storage adoption in the country, significant interest for local manufacturing and system integration capabilities can be created. “We anticipate the energy storage market in India to grow to 300 GWh by 2025. Both Indian and global supply chain is gearing up to supply to this market. This could result in over $5 billion of investment in this sector by 2020.”
Addressing the gravity of the event, Thomas Schlitt, Managing Director, Messe Düsseldorf India, said, ‘ESI 2019 is the biggest stage to debate, deliberate and discuss on key issues and opportunities for energy storage, smart cities, electricity to all, Make in India, EV transformation and RE infrastructure needs of our times. This event has gained global attention and is getting bigger and better with every edition. With more than 500+ industry experts, 80+ speakers, 50+ partners and exhibitors participating from over 25 countries, ESI 2019 is certainly the driving force for National Energy Storage Mission.”
Talking about the potential of India’s Energy Storage market, Stephen Fernands, Founder & President, Customised Energy Solutions, was of the view that globally, storage has moved from the periphery of the electric market and closer to centre stage. “It helps in greater concentrations of renewable generation, moving EVs into the top tier of car sales, improving grid resiliency and enabling a more distributed electric ecosystem. In no place in the world is the opportunity for adoption of energy storage greater than in India,” he expressed.
Implementation of National Energy Storage Mission has become India’s priority to secure the leadership slot in RE and energy storage on global platform. Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Industry and Commerce, addressed the Make in India session.
This two day flagship conference witnessed presence of eminent industry leaders, think tanks, scholars and policy makers including Amitabh Kant, Anil Srivastava, Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Power, Vijayanad Samudrala CEO, Amara Raja Batteries, Robert Pedraza, President, EnerBlu India and MENA Region, Anant Nahata, Managing Director, Exicom Power Solutions, Dr. A.K Jindal, Vice President and Head Technical Commercial, Vehicles Engineering Research Centre, Tata Motors, Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric, Anil Gupta, Managing Director, Okaya, Hemalatha T.R, Managing Director, KELTRON, to name a few.