The policy will also provide EV owners flexibility to swap batteries at swap stations within minutes, and charge them at home
India’s battery swapping policy, which was recently promised by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her Union Budget speech, is likely to be rolled out by the Niti Aayog in the next 3-4 months.
The policy will introduce disruptive business models such as battery as a service (BaaS), leasing, etc. so that electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler customers need not own the battery, which is about 50% of the total vehicle cost, bringing down the upfront vehicle cost much below the ICE counterparts, Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant said.
The proposed policy will give electric vehicle buyers an option not to own its battery thereby bringing down the upfront cost and fast-tracking EV adoption. This is part of the government’s plan to electrify the country’s mobility.
“I am confident that electric vehicles will be cheaper than ICE engine vehicles in the near future,” Kant said.
The policy will also provide EV owners flexibility to swap batteries at swap stations within minutes, and charge them at home, people aware of the matter said.
Aayog’s Kant said the focus in the initial phase will be to cater to light electric vehicles where it is easy to plug and play batteries from the vehicles to the battery swapping stations.
“We have a proven test bed, from startups like Sun Mobility (and) Battery Smart, among others, who have technologically showcased the feasibility of battery swapping for electric two and three-wheelers,” Kant said. “This evolving technology of battery swapping will act as an alternative to decouple the cost of battery from the vehicle for almost all segments.”
Aayog held the first pre-draft stakeholder discussion for he proposed policy earlier this month, where participants included vehicle OEMs , battery OEMs, financiers, think tanks, multimodal agencies, and independent experts and consultants.
With the battery being charged under the supervision of the manufacturer or service provider, the life of the battery will also increase, Kant said.
