The Hon’ble Prime Minister today unveiled the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 in the presence of Shri Praful Patel, Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Shri Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New & Renewable Energy and Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dy. Chairman, Planning Commission. The ceremony was attended by eminent leaders from the automotive industry, academia and research institutes, officers of stakeholder Ministries, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council.
The principal end objectives of the National Mission for Electric Mobility (NMEM) are National energy security, mitigation of the adverse impact of vehicles on the environment and growth of domestic manufacturing capabilities. The NEMMP 2020, the mission document for the NMEM that was approved by the National Council for Electric Mobility (NCEM) on 29th August, 2012, sets the vision, lays the targets and provides the joint Government – industry vision for realizing the huge potential that exists for full range of efficient and environmentally friendly electric vehicle (including hybrids) technologies by 2020.
The NEMMP 2020 is a well researched document and relies on in-depth primary data based study conducted jointly by the Government and the Industry which indicates that high latent demand for environmentally friendly electric vehicle technologies exists in the country. As per these projections, 6-7 million units of new vehicle sales of the full range of electric vehicles, along with resultant liquid fuel savings of 2.2 – 2.5 million tonnes can be achieved in 2020. This will also result in substantial lowering of vehicular emissions and decrease in carbon di-oxide emissions by 1.3% to 1.5% in 2020 as compared to a status quo scenario.
However, in view of the significant barriers that exist today for these frontier technologies, the global experience indicates that this is an area where Governments need to focus their efforts and provide support that is necessary for creation of the eco system and viable self sustaining business in the near future. This includes providing initial impetus through demand support measures that facilitate faster consumer acceptance of these expensive newer technologies. In addition, Government will also need to facilitate automotive R&D and put in place charging infrastructure. It is estimated that the Government will need to provide support to the tune of Rs 13000 – Rs 14000 Crore over the next 5-6 years. The industry will also need to match this with a much larger investment for developing the products and creating the manufacturing eco-system.
The NEMMP 2020 projections also indicate that the savings from the decrease in liquid fossil fuel consumption as a result of shift to electric mobility alone will far exceed the support provided thereby making this a highly economically viable proposition. Therefore on all counts encouraging the faster adoption of hybrid & electric vehicles and their manufacture in India is a wise investment for our future generations.
NMEM is amongst the most significant interventions of the Government that promises to transform the automotive paradigm of the future by lessening the dependence on fossil fuels, increasing energy efficiency of vehicles and by providing the means to achieve ultimate objective of cleaner transportation that is compatible with sustainable renewable energy generation. This Intervention will also help encourage the Indian Automotive Industry to shift to newer, cleaner technologies so that it builds its future competitive advantage around environmentally sustainable products, high end technologies, innovation and knowledge.
The implementation and roll out of the NEMMP 2020 will be done through various specific schemes, interventions, policies that are currently under formulation and will be considered by the Government in the near future.