First Meeting of NCEM

The First Meeting of the National Council for Electric Mobility (NCEM) was held under the Chairmanship of Shri Praful Patel, Minister for Heavy Industry & Public Enterprises, at New Delhi on August 29. The NCEM adopted the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP 2020), which is the mission document for National Mission for Electric Mobility (NMEM). The meeting was attended by Shri Kamal Nath, Minister for Urban Development, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New & Renewable Energy, Dr. C.P. Joshi, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Vayalar Ravi, Minister for Science & Technology, Shri Namo Narain Meena, Minister of State for Finance, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Member, Planning Commission, Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister, eminent leaders from the industry, academia and research institutes. The NEMMP 2020 lays the vision, sets the targets and provides the roadmap for achieving significant penetration of efficient and environmentally friendly electric vehicle (including hybrids) technologies in India by 2020. 



The Government last year had approved the NMEM and the setting up of a high level apex structure in the form of the NCEM and the National Board for Electric Mobility (NBEM) for faster adoption of electric vehicles (including hybrids) and their manufacture in India. NMEM is amongst the most significant recent initiatives taken up by the Government for the automotive sector with the potential to vastly change the automotive paradigm of the future.

The NEMMP 2020 is based on an in-depth primary data based study conducted jointly by the Government & the Industry and detailed stakeholder consultations involving all related Government Ministries, automotive industry, battery manufacturers, academia and research institutes. The NEMMP 2020 has set a target of 6-7 million units of new vehicle sales of full range of electric vehicles, along with resultant liquid fuel savings of 2.2 – 2.5 million tonnes to be achieved in 2020. This will also result in substantial lowering of vehicular emissions and decrease in carbon di-oxide emissions by 1.3% to 1.5% in 2020 as compared to a status quo scenario.

However, in view of the large barriers that currently exist, the NCEM supported the strong upfront & continued support by Government, which would be essential to realize this demand potential. The Government will provide the initial impetus through demand support measures to facilitate faster consumer acceptance of these newer technologies which have a higher cost of acquisition. In addition, Government will also facilitate automotive R&D and put in place charging infrastructure. It is estimated that the total investment required will be in the range of Rs 20,000 – Rs 23,000 crores, of which the support required to be provided by the Government will be to the tune of Rs 12,250 – Rs 13,850 Crores over the next 5-6 years. The industry will also partner the Government and make large investments for developing the products and creating the manufacturing eco-system.

The cost-benefit analysis for the initiative has also been carried out, and it is projected that in case India is able to realize the demand potential for xEV by 2020, there would be huge benefits by way of liquid fuel savings, lowering of Carbon emissions, lowering of other emissions, job creation. This Intervention will also encourage the Indian Industry to shift to newer, cleaner technologies so that it builds its future competitive advantage around environmentally sustainable products, high end technologies, and innovation, thereby helping to improve the competitiveness of domestic automotive industry. The substantial savings on account of decrease in liquid fossil fuel consumption as a result of shift to electric mobility will more than offset the support provided thereby justifying this initiative as an economically viable proposition. In addition, given the substantial mitigation of adverse impact of transportation on the environment, the NCEM was of the firm belief that supporting the faster adoption of hybrid & electric vehicles and their manufacture in India will be a wise investment that we need to make for our future generations.

The NEMMP-2020 document is planned to be formally unveiled before the nation very soon. The work for implementation of the plan is being headed by DHI with the support of NATRiP and will involve finalization and roll out of comprehensive array of interventions, schemes, policies and projects during the next few months.