7th International Conference on “New Frontier in Energy, Engineering and Science (NFEES), 19-20 March 2021, ACEIT Jaipur

Electric Vehicles in India: A Literature Review

Satyendra Pratap Singh Nitish Sharma Shukla Ashish Chandrakant Surendra Pratap Singh
Dept. of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Arya College of Engineering & Arya College of Engineering & Arya College of Engineering & Arya College of Engineering &
IT Jaipur, India IT Jaipur, India IT Jaipur, India IT Jaipur, India
satya.989@gmail.com nitishjaipur2000@gmail.com xanon06@gmail.com deorasps@gmail.com

Abstract—In present scenario, air pollution has become a

serious concern for the India. According to recent global
report, many cities in the India are most polluted cities. Major
sectors contributing to the air pollution are industrial sector
and transport sector. Among this 51% of air pollution is
caused by the industrial sector and 27% by the transport
sector. Air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of 2
million Indians every year. In order to minimize the air
pollution, Electric Vehicle (EV) can act as blessing in lowering
the GHG emission. Electric Vehicles offer numerous
advantages such as decreasing the pollution level and reduction
in oil import bills etc. Although there is considerable amount of
threats in establishing the Electric Vehicles in India. This
paper provides the brief literature review on the Electric Fig.1. Principle of Electric Car [5]
Vehicles and compiles the advantages and threats in promoting
EVs in India. III. ADVANTAGES OF EVS
In order to reduce air pollution, we need to move towards
Keywords—Electric Vehicle, Emission, Charging station, an alternate source of transport from convention ICE
Battery Technology vehicles and EVs can act as an alternate source of
transportation giving plenty of advantages to the consumers
I. INTRODUCTION which are mentioned below:
Air pollution is one of the greatest threats in the global
context, and in a country comprising of world second largest A. EVs are envirnment friendly
population of almost a 130 million (equivalent to 17.7% of Compared to ICE vehicles EVs does not produce smoke
world’s population), people are finding problematic to breath resulting in no pollution. EVs don’t even have an exhaust
in most of the metropolitan cities. India is facing some system, meaning they have zero emissions. And since gas-
serious air pollution issues since a decade and it is increasing powered vehicles are large contributors to greenhouse-gas
at an alarming rate. The main cause of this exponential making the switch to an EVs can help in making the planet
increase in the pollution levels is poor fuel quality, old healthy.
vehicles, inadequate maintenance, congested traffic, poor
road condition and old automotive technologies and traffic B. Electricity is the cheaper than gasoline
management system. Per kilometer cost to EVs is cheaper compared to ICE
The major pollutants emitted from the automobiles are vehicles. The fact cannot be denied that many EVs run at
hydrocarbons, nitrogen dioxide, lead, carbon monoxide, one-third of the cost, given that electricity is significantly
sulphur dioxide, and particulate matter. Reason behind large less expensive than gasoline. And since consumer charge
share of vehicular pollution is India’s gigantic automotive there EVs in garage most of the time, installing solar panels
industry i.e., 4th largest in the world. According to the Ref. at home can save even more money.
[1], the population of electric vehicle in India is increasing at
the rate of 37.5%. And the government is focusing the more C. Low maintanance
concern towards the Electric Vehicles [2] and charging Due to absence of internal combustion engine in EVs its
stations [3]. In reference [4], placement of charging station maintenance requirement becomes less.
has been proposed to optimize the charging stations and
provide the maximum power as per the requirement.
III. CHALLENGES AHEAD
II. WORKING PRINCIPLE OF EVS Presently, there are many more challenges to establish
the Electric Vehicle future. The major role to run the Electric
Fig. 1 shows the working principle of electric car in Vehicle in India is power generation. Without electricity, we
which the e-motor gets energy from a controller which cannot imagine Electric Vehicle future. Therefore,
collects the power from a battery. The e-vehicle works on an responsibility of distribution network increases to supply the
electric principle. Battery pack provides the power to the proper electric power without failure. Which can be possible
electric motor. Therefore, e-motor uses the energy received by proper monitoring of the network. Phasor Measurement
from the rechargeable battery to rotate the transmission Unit (PMU) [6-10] measure the voltage and current in real
system, thereby, wheels rotate. Moreover, a potentiometer is time and protect the network from any failure. In reference
hooked to the accelerator pedal of the car which signals the [11], voltage stability problem has been discussed and
controller how much power is to be delivered to the electric
motor.

NFEES- 2020-21, 19-20 March 2021, ACEIT Jaipur, Rajasthan

resolve by using the PMU which is installed and the power The subsidy from the FAME scheme is not the only
system buses. incentive mechanism that impacts the market for hybrid and
electric vehicles in India. The Central Government of India
A. High Cost and some state governments, such as the Government of
Cost of buying EV is quite high when compared to that National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT of Delhi), provide
of an ICE vehicle i.e., the average cost of electric cars in tax incentives that treat hybrid and electric vehicles
India is around 13 Lakh (INR), which is much higher than preferentially over conventional technologies. As per the
the average INR 5 Lakh for economical cars run on recent announcements made by finance minister Nirmala
traditional fuel. These are mainly due to the lithium import Sitharaman, during the union budget 2020 presentation, the
for battery making and since batteries make up to about 50% government has increased the import duty on electric
cost of the vehicle therefore EVs are costlier. Lithium is a vehicles to promote make in India.
rare metal which has its high reserves in countries like Chile,
VI. LITHIUM RESERVES REVOLUTIONISE EV SECTOR IN
Australia, and Argentina.
INDIA
B. Lack of charging infrastructure Reserves of lithium, a rare metal critical to build batteries
The main hindrance behind commercial viability of EVs for electric vehicles, have been discovered in Mandya, 100
in India is inadequate charging infrastructure. India only had km from the Bangalore. This will be the breakthrough in
650 charging stations in 2018, whereas China had over 456K local manufacturing of EV batteries. Researchers at the
charging points in the same year. Other reason creating Atomic Minerals Directorate, a unit of India's Atomic
anxiety is charging time. Battery charger efficiency Energy Commission, have estimated lithium reserves of
according to the present available technologies all over the 14,100 tonnes in a small patch of land surveyed in the
world varies in percentage from low 70s to high 90s [12]. Southern Karnataka district. Among the other countries,
Chile is estimated to have lithium reserves of up to 8 million
C. Range anxiety tonnes while 2.8 million tonnes have been found in Australia.
Argentina is reported to have lithium reserves of up to 1.7
Range anxiety is one of the most significant roadblocks million tonnes. According to the data, Portugal also has
to EV adoption. EVs generally have shorter range which 60,000 tonnes of lithium reserves, which are substantially
causes charging fear in consumers mind. At present longest higher in number when compared to the lithium reserves
range EV available is Tesla’s model S which has a range of in India. The details of lithium ion battery have been given in
370 miles per charge. But since Tesla is not entered the [13].
Indian market so Indians do not have reach to this high range
vehicle. EVs available in India do not have range more than VII. CONCLUSION
500 km per charge. This is deeply associated to the lack of High cost is one of the reason which diverting the
charging infrastructure in the country, and while customers from purchasing the EVs. To work upon this
conventional vehicles can be refueled at petrol stations, such government has pushed for a wider EV adoption by offering
is not the case when it comes to EVs. subsidies to commercial vehicles. But electric cars still
remain costlier by at least 30%, mainly due to imported
IV. OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD batteries. The Centre’s Faster Adoption and Manufacturing
of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme of 2015
The electric vehicle market is set to expand owing to the rolled out subsidies for electric commercial vehicles. Experts
ambitious plans and initiatives of the government. The say the main challenges facing the EV industry are
government has taken a number of steps to incentivize and inadequate charging infrastructure and reliance on imported
promote the deployment of electric vehicles and public components and batteries. But 2020 could change all that.
charging infrastructure to achieve significant electrification Cost of battery imports will come surely come down due to
by 2030. India is targeting to reduce its excessive oil imports the discovery of lithium reserves in Bangalore. Over the last
and curb pollution levels across cities in the coming years. quarter, manufacturers have announced several new EV
Electric vehicles will play an important role in achieving this models that promise a higher range — some substantially
target. more than the 80-90 km an EV gives now. Even at this
year’s Auto Expo at Greater Noida, electric vehicles are
clearly the show-stoppers.
V. INDIA’S POLICY ON ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Among the EVs that have caught everybody’s attention at
In 2012, the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan
the expo are Maruti Suzuki’s Futuro-e and Tata Motors’
(NEMMP) 2020 was established, under which an incentive
Nexon EV and Altroz EV. China’s Great Wall Motors stole
scheme, Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and
the show with the Ora R1. Another major challenge faced by
Electric Vehicles (FAME), was launched in 2015 to reduce
EVs in India is inadequate charging infrastructure. The
the cost of hybrid and electric vehicles and to encourage their
charging infrastructure needs urgent focus as India has only
penetration in the market. The FAME scheme offers a
2,636 charging stations. There is no shortage of electricity-
subsidy on the retail price of passenger cars. These subsidies
generation capacity in India to fuel these cars, says Rishabh
range from INR 11,000 – 24,000 for mild hybrids, from INR
Jain, manager, CEEW, Centre for Energy Finance, a public
59,000 – 71,000 for strong hybrids; and from INR 60,000 –
policy think tank. Analysis suggests that four-wheeler
1, 34,000 for electric vehicles. Subsidies are also available
passenger and commercial vehicles consumed 21.3 million
for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, light-commercial vehicles
tones of petrol and diesel in 2017-18. If the distance travelled
and buses.
by these vehicles are covered by equivalent EV-km, it is
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have been required to charge the EVs. Singapore.
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