Its 2021, post-COVID-19 pandemic and the fuel prices are over the roof, pushing the government and industries towards adopting Electric Vehicles (EVs). The Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, in November 2020, had announced that the government will be setting up at least one EV charging kiosk at each of the 69,000 petrol pumps across the country.
Here in an interaction with Pushkar Singh, CEO and Co-founder of LetsTransport, we try to look at the EV industry.
What is the company’s take on the EV industry?
EV is the next big thing for the automobile sector. This is a big revolution and will impact the logistics sector immensely. LetsTransport has always championed and welcomed new technologies. EV revolution is what we will always support for it being a more sustainable model and for its futuristic approach. As we look from the point of view of the logistics sector specifically, we are confident that EVs are the future as we cannot rely on non-renewable fuels.
What are the company’s plans for adopting EV?
The biggest emerging trend which we can see in the market is the introduction of EVs as everyone is now switching to clean energy. The commitment to switch to clean fuels is not the only reason but the rising price of conventional fuels has pushed the demand for EVs even more. The EV policies announced by various state governments have been a phenomenal hit in the industry. We at LetsTransport have started pilots with EV manufacturers and are aiming to replace a significant portion of our fleet with EVs by 2025. LetsTransport has always been open to adapting new technologies and innovation and same is the case with the EV revolution, we are already onto it for making a remarkable change.
Will the logistics industry in India as a whole be able to adopt EVs? Will it be an expensive affair?
EV revolution is a big thing for the world and India has recently started to hop onto it. The Indian logistics sector has emerged as one of the earliest champions of EV adoption in the country and we are confident of widespread EV adoption in logistics. Most large brands have committed to a greener future and reduce their carbon footprints, and a major area for driving this change has been EVs. Besides this, there are significant cost advantages that EVs offer in comparison to internal combustion engines. To answer the second part, the adoption will slightly be an expensive affair with initial set-up costs and evolving technologies, but it is an investment for the long run, which will be beneficial for the entire sector, economy and most importantly, our environment.
What about the infrastructure for EV in the country? Should the government do more? Please elaborate
EV revolution requires a change on many grounds and especially for a country like India which has been inclined towards a traditional approach, we need to bring in a lot of alterations and shifts. Setting up of an expansive charging network, akin to the network of fuel pumps that currently exist, is the need of the hour to ensure widespread EV adoption. Without enabling charging on the go, it will be difficult to convince people to switch to EVs. Government can definitely work in this direction and help our country make a mark in the global economy.
EVs require electricity and the government is not able to meet the electricity demand for households across the country. How can it give a push to the EV sector?
A major hurdle for us is having enough charging ports for EVs in India. For the longest time that held us back from hopping on the trend but now slowly with time our situation has improved and a lot of credits for the same should be given to the Government and their various policies. The Electricity problem has been solved to a good extent throughout the country and will continue to improve in the few years and that is the time that India would take to adapt the EV trend completely. We are very hopeful that the government will be able to give that push to the EV sector.
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What is your outlook?
Our sector and our country in large is definitely way ahead of what it was a few years back and to what our strength is actually we can be far off creating our own mark on the globe. We have come a long way in adapting the EV trend and have made our noticeable contribution. We’ll definitely take a few more years to call ourselves completely revolutionized but till then it’s a process and we are doing great with it. We can surely see 30-50% of the country vehicles being switched to EVs by 2030.
