Following the news that New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) has sought expressions of interest from prospective electric vehicle (EV) suppliers to buy over 100,000 electric two-wheelers;

Bakar Sadik Agwan, Senior Automotive Consulting Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“The announcement is positive for the domestic EV market and reflects government’s commitment to electrify its fleet and phase out ICE vehicles. The government, along with OEMs, financial institutions and energy companies, plan to avail electric two-wheeler loans to government employees at low interest rates to increase sales.

“Presently electric two-wheelers are the flag bearer of the electrification movement in India. With wide range of product availability, conducive policies and growing demand for affordable personal mobility electric two-wheelers turns out to be best suited option, particularly in Tier I and Tier II cities. However, their cost compared to ICE vehicles and availability of charging infrastructure act as key challenges for the market growth. Against this backdrop, initiatives to make EVs affordable will result in the increased adoption of electric two-wheelers.

“State-owned companies such as EESL and NTPC have similarly worked in the past to deploy electric vehicles and build EV infrastructure for the government-owned vehicles. State governments and agencies bringing in new business models such as easy financing offer examples for other state governments, OEMs and stakeholders such as energy companies and mobility players to replicate the model and significantly boost the uptake of electric two-wheelers in India, sales of which totalled 152,000 units in FY2020.”