Week 42 (Oct 11 - 17)
This week's recap - India floats EOI for setting up EV charging on highways, Delhi exempts EVs from road tax & registration fees, Citroen & JLR EV India launch plans, and Tesla's India 2021 entry.
India invites proposals for EV charging stations on highways The government has invited proposals for installing electric vehicles (EVs) charging stations on highways and expressways. The Department of Heavy Industry has floated an expression of interest (EoI) for inviting proposals from government organizations, public sector undertakings (PSUs), state-owned discoms, oil PSUs, and other public and private entities to build and operate public EV charging infrastructure.
The proposals have been invited to develop and operate EV charging infrastructure on the following expressways:
Every 25 km on each side of the highway there must be a charging station with a mandatory 50 KW (Minimum) fast charger and 15 KW Bharat DC-001 charger. Having 10 KW Bharat AC 001 and 22 KW Type 2 AC charger is optional. After every 100 km, there must be a long Range/heavy Duty EV Charger of a minimum of 100 kW (200-750 V or higher).
The subsidy funded by DHI under FAME India Scheme Phase II is 70% of the cost of EV Charging Supply Equipment (EVSE) which is capped at 70% of the Benchmark Price of each EVSE, (will be communicated separately). The cost of upstream electrical infrastructure, including the cost of the transformer required for bringing power supply to the EV charging station, will not be covered as the cost of EVSE.
The last date for submission of proposals in response to the EOI is December 7, 2020. The selected developers/ installers will have a period of 9 months from the approval of the projects to complete the work on the installation of the chargers. A total of 1544 EV charging stations have been envisaged under the EOI to be deployed along more than 15,000 km of highways and expressways.
Earlier, the Department of Heavy Industry had invited an Expression of Interest dated 28th Aug 2019 from public and private entities for setting up EV charging stations within cities. After the evaluation of proposals received, the Government sanctioned 2877 EV charging stations to 22 public entities.
Delhi exempts Battery-operated vehicles from road tax and registration fees. In a gap of a week, the Delhi government has released notifications exempting battery-operated vehicles from both road tax and registration fees. The same was part of the landmark Delhi EV policy passed by the CM earlier in August 2020.
Citroen India to launch mass-market EVs by 2022. As per ET reports, French carmaker Groupe PSA is planning to focus on SUVs, biofuel (ethanol-blended petrol) cars, and EVs for its Citroen brand to carve a space for itself in the highly competitive Indian passenger vehicle market. The company has already started testing its first product in India- the premium mid-size SUV C5 Aircross and is working on a mass-market small electric SUV codenamed eCC21. The eCC21 is likely to be priced around Rs 8 lakh and hit the Indian roads in 2022. Citroen vehicles in India will be built at a plant in Tamil Nadu, which was previously owned by Hindustan Motors in which Groupe PSA has a majority stake.
Aircross C5 (Image Credit: CarWale)
JLR to launch electric Jaguar I-PACE in India in early 2021. As per a report in Reuters, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plans to launch its electric Jaguar I-PACE sedan in India early next year as governments across the world push for more clean-energy vehicles. The British luxury carmaker owned by India’s Tata Motors also plans to launch plug-in hybrid versions of its vehicles in the coming months, including the Land Rover Defender sport-utility vehicle (SUV).
I pace (Image Credit: Jaguar LandRover)
Ather eyes India’s biggest electric vehicle public charging infrastructure. Ather Energy looks to strengthen its charging infrastructure (Ather Grid) ahead of the Ather 450x deliveries starting Nov 2020. The Ather Grid is supported by a mobile app that allows all EV owners to directly filter information related to the availability of parking, 2 & 4 wheeler charging, and timings on the home screen. With a current network of 150 charging stations of which 37 are in Bangalore, 13 in Chennai it intends to install 5-10 fast charging points before delivery in each of the 9 new markets they are expanding to. As per their roadmap, they intend to set-up one of India’s biggest public charging infrastructure in India with 6500 charging points across the country by 2022.
Tesla working on India entry, process to begin in January 2021: Musk. After responding on Twitter earlier this month with “Next year for sure” when asked about when Tesla plans to enter India, Elon Musk has Tesla Indian fanbois going into meltdown yet again with his latest tweet. He tweeted that Telsa’s official booking order configurator for India will probably go LIVE on their website from Jan next year. Once the order configurator goes LIVE for India, not only will we which Tesla cars are going to be on offer in India but also those who have already booked Tesla Model 3 from India, will be able to configure their car. Tesla also plans to open up an R&D center in India to take advantage of the sops states like Karnataka & Telangana have to offer.
Bengaluru startup launches EV charger for small businesses at Rs 10,000 Bengaluru-based startup Kirana Charzer has introduced an EV charger that can be installed at small shops and businesses to enable the shopkeeper to earn from providing charging services and expand the EV charging infrastructure. The charger has been priced at Rs 10,000 and can be hosted by any individual on the Charzer app making it publicly available for everyone. The company plans to set up 1 lakh EV Charging stations in India.
CSIR and KPIT Technologies complete trial run of India’s first hydrogen fuel cell passenger car Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and KPIT Technologies have jointly piloted trials for India’s first passenger car retrofitted with hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) technology. The pilot car was fitted with a type 3 commercial hydrogen tank with 1.75kg H2 storage at 350 bar and is capable of running 250 km. The fuel cell used is based on Proton Exchange Membrane technology (CSIR know-how) with thin bipolar plates for weight reduction (KPIT know-how). Hydrogen Fuel Cell uses chemical reactions between hydrogen and oxygen (from the air) to generate electrical energy, eliminating the use of fossil fuels. The technology is expected to be more suitable for commercial vehicle applications like buses and trucks which require large batteries for their running, while HFC technology can make do with small batteries for an equivalent range. However, the lack of hydrogen fueling stations along with the risks of using the fuel has put a dampener on HFC for now.
Ampere Electric scooters can now be rented through eBikeGo ET Reports that Ampere Electric has partnered with eBikeGo to provide its e-scooters on the latter’s electric vehicle subscription platform. With this tie-up, Ampere will supply 2000 scooters and expand its presence in the B2B shared mobility service segment. The partnership will cater to last-mile logistics solutions and delivery support to e-commerce players as home delivery of products sees a substantial rise.
Bounce places order for 3,000 Ampere scooters. As per Ampere Electric’s PR, Bounce has ordered 3,000 Ampere scooters on the platform as part of the initial rollout of its partnership with the company.
Electric vehicle startup PURE EV goes global. IIT Hyderabad-incubated startup PURE EV has entered its first international market with a tie-up with White Lotus Motors (WLM) for distribution of its EV two-wheelers in Nepal. The premium model ‘EPluto7G’ which the company looks to retail in Nepal has been designed and developed factoring in the gradient requirements of Nepal. The company's expansion into Nepal is part of a larger strategy to export to international markets having a predominantly two-wheeler mode of transportation for personal mobility.
Other interesting global news
Hyundai Xcient is the world’s first mass-produced FCEV Heavy-Duty Truck
Why Amazon and Panasonic are betting on this battery recycling startup
Canada announces Can$590 million investment in Ford electric car plant
BMW to roll out 25 electric or hybrid products by 2023 by ET
Apple supplier Foxconn aims to supply to 10% of global EVs by Reuters
Electric-bus maker Proterra gets $200 million investment by Reuters
Australia unveils plans for first lithium-ion battery gigafactory