<p>If India is serious about its ambitions to become a key driver of the global electric-vehicle revolution, its policymakers need to work harder to rectify issues ranging from taxation anomalies to battery standards.</p>.<p>That was the advice of the key EV stakeholders who participated in the Global Investors’ Meet in Bengaluru. It comes amid an increase in EV adoption across all forms of mobility in the world’s fourth-largest automobile market.</p>.<p>Sales of electric two- and four-wheelers more than tripled year on year in September, while those of three-wheelers and buses more than doubled from the year-ago period.</p>.<p>India needs to lend policy support to all forms of EVs and the technologies that power them since they need to co-exist, according to Sun Mobility chief and co-founder Chetan Maini, the man who gave India its first electric car.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/panorama/evs-start-with-a-bigger-carbon-footprint-but-that-doesn-t-last-1156240.html" target="_blank">EVs start with a bigger carbon footprint. But that doesn’t last</a></strong></p>.<p>“At a product level, it (policy) could be two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers and buses. It could be slow-charge, fast-charge or battery swapping. It should be agnostic to the type of technology that is being used,” Maini added.</p>.<p>Asia’s third-largest economy saw new-age companies rely heavily on gig workers to cater better to online shoppers during the pandemic. This, coupled with the adoption of EVs, has paved the way for many modes of mobility including mobility-as-a-service, battery-as-a-service, and battery leasing.</p>.<p>"The challenge we have today is that the policies are not looking at all the business models and all the solutions. If the same product were to have a battery leasing/battery swapping, then the GST on batteries would be 18% versus 5% on vehicles sold along with the battery as a whole. There’s an anomaly in taxation," Maini explained.</p>.<p>Experts agreed.</p>.<p>"The differential taxation rates for EVs (with batteries) and standalone batteries do create obstacles for certain business models such as swappable batteries or BaaS," said Suraj Ghosh, Director, Powertrain & Compliance Forecasts, South Asia, S&P Global Mobility.</p>.<p>Similar issues exist when it comes to subsidies too.</p>.<p>Currently, subsidies are based on battery size. If you separate the batteries, there is no clarity on how subsidies come, Maini added.</p>.<p>The comments come nine months after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government would bring out a policy around battery swapping and standards around interoperability in the EV space.</p>.<p>Currently, public policy think tank NITI Aayog is working on various policies around EVs including the safety of batteries and battery swapping guidelines. While drafts of the policies were circulated for feedback, a lot of issues are yet to be ironed out before the final policy sees daylight.</p>.<p>Maini hopes things will change.</p>.<p>"Earlier this year, the FM mentioned that the battery swapping policy will come out and NITI Aayog is working on it, I am hoping this anomaly will be sorted," Maini said.</p>.<p>Ghosh too expected the tax rationalisation to happen by March 2023.</p>.<p>"The rationalisation works are ongoing within NITI Aayog, we expect things to smoothen out before the next FY begins," he said.</p>.<p>Competition vs standardisation</p>.<p>Many companies in the EV space have had reservations regarding interoperability standards citing that they would stifle innovation in a nascent sector.</p>.<p>Vehicle makers extract different levels of performance and install batteries as per their unique architecture and requirements to differentiate their products from those of their rivals, Ghosh said.</p>.<p>"As a result, interoperability becomes a challenge. So, unless mandated, we do not expect OEMs to voluntarily agree to interoperability standards," he said.</p>.<p>Others asked for interoperability at the earliest.</p>.<p>"In India, I am convinced that interoperability and common technology standards are a must. These are the need of the hour," said Sachin Nijhawan, Chief Revenue Officer, Switch Mobility, the electric mobility arm of Ashok Leyland.</p>.<p>He explained how the lack of a standard around charging infrastructure could lead to the wastage of resources and time.</p>.<p>"For instance, at a certain depot Switch has set up chargers for our electric buses, if in the future Tata Motors bring in their e-buses, they will have to set up chargers again for their buses," Nijhawan said.</p>.<p>He said setting up chargers would account for 10% of the total project cost and that it was a time-taking process.</p>.<p>"It takes us three months to make a bus, but in many places to develop infrastructure it takes four to five months. If there is a policy (in this area), we can bring down the costs, speed up the delivery and a business model can generate much faster for charging infra from this," he added.</p>
<p>If India is serious about its ambitions to become a key driver of the global electric-vehicle revolution, its policymakers need to work harder to rectify issues ranging from taxation anomalies to battery standards.</p>.<p>That was the advice of the key EV stakeholders who participated in the Global Investors’ Meet in Bengaluru. It comes amid an increase in EV adoption across all forms of mobility in the world’s fourth-largest automobile market.</p>.<p>Sales of electric two- and four-wheelers more than tripled year on year in September, while those of three-wheelers and buses more than doubled from the year-ago period.</p>.<p>India needs to lend policy support to all forms of EVs and the technologies that power them since they need to co-exist, according to Sun Mobility chief and co-founder Chetan Maini, the man who gave India its first electric car.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/panorama/evs-start-with-a-bigger-carbon-footprint-but-that-doesn-t-last-1156240.html" target="_blank">EVs start with a bigger carbon footprint. But that doesn’t last</a></strong></p>.<p>“At a product level, it (policy) could be two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers and buses. It could be slow-charge, fast-charge or battery swapping. It should be agnostic to the type of technology that is being used,” Maini added.</p>.<p>Asia’s third-largest economy saw new-age companies rely heavily on gig workers to cater better to online shoppers during the pandemic. This, coupled with the adoption of EVs, has paved the way for many modes of mobility including mobility-as-a-service, battery-as-a-service, and battery leasing.</p>.<p>"The challenge we have today is that the policies are not looking at all the business models and all the solutions. If the same product were to have a battery leasing/battery swapping, then the GST on batteries would be 18% versus 5% on vehicles sold along with the battery as a whole. There’s an anomaly in taxation," Maini explained.</p>.<p>Experts agreed.</p>.<p>"The differential taxation rates for EVs (with batteries) and standalone batteries do create obstacles for certain business models such as swappable batteries or BaaS," said Suraj Ghosh, Director, Powertrain & Compliance Forecasts, South Asia, S&P Global Mobility.</p>.<p>Similar issues exist when it comes to subsidies too.</p>.<p>Currently, subsidies are based on battery size. If you separate the batteries, there is no clarity on how subsidies come, Maini added.</p>.<p>The comments come nine months after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government would bring out a policy around battery swapping and standards around interoperability in the EV space.</p>.<p>Currently, public policy think tank NITI Aayog is working on various policies around EVs including the safety of batteries and battery swapping guidelines. While drafts of the policies were circulated for feedback, a lot of issues are yet to be ironed out before the final policy sees daylight.</p>.<p>Maini hopes things will change.</p>.<p>"Earlier this year, the FM mentioned that the battery swapping policy will come out and NITI Aayog is working on it, I am hoping this anomaly will be sorted," Maini said.</p>.<p>Ghosh too expected the tax rationalisation to happen by March 2023.</p>.<p>"The rationalisation works are ongoing within NITI Aayog, we expect things to smoothen out before the next FY begins," he said.</p>.<p>Competition vs standardisation</p>.<p>Many companies in the EV space have had reservations regarding interoperability standards citing that they would stifle innovation in a nascent sector.</p>.<p>Vehicle makers extract different levels of performance and install batteries as per their unique architecture and requirements to differentiate their products from those of their rivals, Ghosh said.</p>.<p>"As a result, interoperability becomes a challenge. So, unless mandated, we do not expect OEMs to voluntarily agree to interoperability standards," he said.</p>.<p>Others asked for interoperability at the earliest.</p>.<p>"In India, I am convinced that interoperability and common technology standards are a must. These are the need of the hour," said Sachin Nijhawan, Chief Revenue Officer, Switch Mobility, the electric mobility arm of Ashok Leyland.</p>.<p>He explained how the lack of a standard around charging infrastructure could lead to the wastage of resources and time.</p>.<p>"For instance, at a certain depot Switch has set up chargers for our electric buses, if in the future Tata Motors bring in their e-buses, they will have to set up chargers again for their buses," Nijhawan said.</p>.<p>He said setting up chargers would account for 10% of the total project cost and that it was a time-taking process.</p>.<p>"It takes us three months to make a bus, but in many places to develop infrastructure it takes four to five months. If there is a policy (in this area), we can bring down the costs, speed up the delivery and a business model can generate much faster for charging infra from this," he added.</p>