New Delhi: The highest fuel prices in India's history are spurring efforts to shift the nation's ubiquitous motor scooters — which account for nearly 70 per cent of local gasoline consumption — to electric models, along with a new pledge to hit net-zero by 2070.
At current prices, even the most fuel-efficient two-wheeler guzzles gasoline worth more than Rs 100 for a 100-kilometer ride, while an e-scooter can run the same distance at less than a sixth of that cost.
Companies like Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. and Ola Electric Mobility Pvt., a unit of India's biggest ride-hailing services provider Ola, are launching new two-wheelers priced around $1,000, roughly what the country's top-selling gasoline motorcycles and scooters cost.
With two-wheelers accounting for 80 per cent of vehicle sales in a country where public transportation is inadequate and cars are out of reach for most, the potential for growth in the electric segment is enormous: BloombergNEF expects electric motorcycles and scooters to account for 74 per cent of all such vehicles sold by 2040, up from less than 1 per cent now.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise announcement at the COP26 climate summit that the world's third-biggest carbon emitter will reach net-zero by 2070 is also expected to inject new life into the transition effort. "There is no denying the fact that the move to electric is inevitable for two-wheelers," said Varun Dubey, chief marketing officer of Ola Electric. "I don't think there is any convincing required to the consumer to switch to electric."
Still, sizable hurdles remain, like the lack of a nationwide charging infrastructure. Subsidies for consumers to switch to electric — 15,000 rupees ($202) per kilowatt-hour — are measly by global standards and there aren't special perks like in China, where electric scooters can use bicycle lanes. India's emissions goal will required trillions of dollars of investment and Modi's government has not made clear how it intends to raise the funds, besides saying that rich nations must do more.