India Minister Champions Electric Mobility

“Electric vehicles are not a demand but a supply problem today. Consumers want options, and industry has to deliver,” said Piyush Goyal, India’s minister of commerce and industry, textiles, consumer affairs, food and public distribution, at the 2022 ETAuto EV Conclave, held virtually March 15-16.

In the conclave’s opening address, Goyal vigorously supported electric vehicles (EVs) and a “dismantling the high entry barriers in the traditional automotive ecosystem,” according to ETAuto, a publication of The Economic Times of India.

“We now see more democratization of the sector with a lot [of] companies, startups and new technologies taking center stage. Traditionally, this sector has had high entry barriers, but the world is changing,” he said, noting a mobility ecosystem now emerging “from the shadows of the big brands.”

Progressive government policies have helped build the strong momentum electric mobility has gained in India over the last few years, Goyal said, while pointing to smaller towns taking the lead in the movement.

“Our tier two and tier three cities, in fact, have outpaced the big cities, the metropolitan cities, in adopting electric vehicles,” Goyal claimed. “It justifies the old idiom that technology is the great leveler.”

Citing electric mobility’s critical role in preserving the planet and battling climate change, the minister believes EVs “will help us expand this ecosystem much faster across the length and breadth of India.”

Goyal advocates a three-step strategy to achieve the transformational growth electric mobility can bring: make India’s EV manufacturing sector globally competitive by leveraging its low-cost manufacturing base; invite technology to locate and build in India; and develop sustainable solutions based on indigenous technology such as India’s contrasting weather conditions and its roads.

“When India transforms, it benefits nearly a fifth of mankind. Let us build a template in mobility for the world to adopt,” Goyal encourage.