One hundred years after India gained independence in 1947, this government has got into a mission mode to achieve what it calls “Energy Independence in 2047.”
A dedicated thinktank of industry experts, energy and climate experts, future transport visionaries led by Prime Minister’s Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood has drawn a roadmap on what it takes to move over to complete electric mobility on way to 2047 energy independence.
Currently, India’s growing electric vehicle sector heavily depends on lithium imports from other countries. It appears New Delhi lost a low-hanging fruit advantage when governments of Lithium Triad – Argentina, Bolivia, Chile – were hankering after India to extend mining expertise to source lithium from their country. These three countries have vast reserves of natural lithium, called white gold, waiting to be mined. However, while New Delhi dillydallied, a decisive Beijing adroitly moved in and set up mining infra there. Thanks to a complacent and tardy bureaucratic mindset, it should not surprise anyone if we now turn to China to get lithium batteries albeit at much higher price and may be not the best ones.
To achieve a 45% reduction in emission intensity by 2030 and reduce dependence on imports, the Government has finally woken up and the Geological Survey of India has started lithium exploration across the country. It has amended the Mines and Minerals Act, 1957, to allow private players to conduct exploration. Many research institutes have also started working on lithium alternatives such as Sodium-ion, Lithium-air, Aluminium-air, Lithium-sulphur, Sodium-air, and Zinc-air for batteries. For now, Lithium remains best bet in the market and performance.
The report “e-mobility R&D Roadmap for India” has been prepared after detailed study of the global automotive sector and identifying future cutting-edge technology needs. Its focus is on four important areas: energy storage cells, EV aggregates, materials and recycling, charging infrastructure. It outlines pathways to attain self-reliance in the next five years.
The PSA noted that if India aims to achieve a 45% reduction in emissions by 2030, energy independence by 2047 and Net-Zero target by 2070, a significant part of this is going to come from a wider adoption of electric vehicles, manufacturing of energy storage systems, and tapping renewable energy to feed charging infrastructures. Net-Zero means carbon emissions are cut down to extent that the residual emissions are so small that they get absorbed by nature, leaving zero carbon in the atmosphere.
The last part is important. Simply put, we cannot have diesel-fired generators to charge electric cars, we have to turn to wind and solar power, and discover more clean energy sources.
The PSA admitted that presently the e-mobility value-chain heavily depends on imports. There is a need to reduce dependence on imports and the strengthen our own R&D capacities in the automotive sector.
Prof. Karthick Athmanathan, PSA Fellow and Professor of Practice, IIT Madras, believes the report addresses the actions needed to get out of the current import-dependence and fills critical gaps in the current R&D framework.
The automobile sector in India is one of the largest contributors to the country’s GDP and will remain so given its fast growth trajectory. This upward trend need to be aligned with the Net-Zero vision of the country alongside fostering a culture of R&D and innovation-driven growth in the automotive sector.
The report also flags the risks associated with respect to efforts invested into developing the new technologies: “It is pertinent to mention here that the proposed research projects in this roadmap have not yet been completed globally, hence risks are high and timelines are long as it will involve exploratory and trial-based work.”
It identifies four kind of risks – Industrialization, Obsolescence, Market Risk and Technology Risk. One, product may fail at stage of mass production and does not reach masses and the reasons for this may be complex. Two, it may just go obsolete during development because of new and disruptive technologies. Three, after mass production product may not be to the liking of customer due to changed preferences. Four, the risk of inability of the project to deliver on its targets and outcomes as proposed due to currently unidentified blind spots (the unknown unknowns).
This besides that the budgets may fall short and the timeline will always remain a uncertain as government and industry deals pushes ahead with electric mobility projects.
However, these are known scenarios in every sphere of industrial venture and technology roll out. A race against time will continue to needle the stakeholders to take these risks to avert a bigger risk of climate disaster. Stepping back and giving up is not an option.
