2022 Union Budget: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today in her Union Budget 2022 speech announced that the government will roll out a policy for electric vehicle battery-swapping with interoperability standards. An EV policy with focus on interoperability among various EV brands is expected to provide a boost to India’s EV infrastructure. Moreover, the government will encourage the private sector to develop efficient solutions.
It is expected that the new EV battery swapping policy will assist in mitigating concerns over space crunch for expanding EV charging infrastructure. This would help make EVs more viable and also lower range anxiety for buyers.
Rajeev Singh, Partner and Automotive leader, Deloitte India:
“Battery swapping policy including interoperability could be a big booster for all the start ups already working in this space. It could also help drive movement to electrification of fleets especially for last mile connectivity for both people & goods.”
Akshit Bansal, Co-Founder, Statiq:
“The Union Budget 2022-23 has made a strong case for clean energy and environment by supporting the EV charging segment and according us the freedom to re-evaluate ways for promoting ease of charging EVs with low-cost renewable energy (RE) systems. Pairing EV charging with RE structure has resulted in the positive development of the economics of adoption of both factors. By broaching the guidelines in the speech, the Ministry of Power has opened the gates for discussion and investment in favour of public EV charging stations, by prescribing a timetable for open access applications and the applicable fees. And for that we, as a sunrise sector and as a nation, are extremely grateful.”
Sameer Aggarwal, CEO and Founder, RevFin:
“A policy on battery swapping will help in wide scale adoption of batteries as a service. This will reduce upfront ownership costs of electric vehicles and link that cost to vehicle running. Since the cost of running electric vehicles is cheaper, the overall running cost with battery service will work out to be more economical than usage of ICE based vehicles. This is a very welcome announcement in the union budget. This will also create opportunities for several new startups.”
“Zero emission zones in cities will help bring prominence to electric vehicles as well as provide incentive to purchase electric vehicles to be able to use those zones.”
Dr Rishi Bhatnagar, President, Aeris Communications:
“FM has laid great emphasis on EV ecosystem by announcing battery swapping policy. This will promote and encourage private sector to create innovative and sustainable business models, improving efficiency. I welcome the budget and excited to assist the government in its electrification efforts. AI and IoT provides a clear image of the battery’s charge status. Remote monitoring via IoT can help verify that the station is correctly optimised. The most appealing aspect of the battery swapping infrastructure is that it does not necessitate any investment from local power distribution companies. This will aid in developing the necessary charging station ecosystem proving beneficial to domestic EV market. As a company Aeris Communications has battery management and swapping solutions and working closely with EV OEMs and service providers”.
