India’s EV dream to boost renewable energy and aluminium demand in next decade

Electrification of all the vehicles in India within financial year 2016-17, would result in an incremental electricity demand of around 50,000 crore units, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) estimated. This is in comparison with the actual electricity output of 1.43 lakh crore units, including captive supply of 19,700 crore units in FY17 as per Central Electricity Authority. Although the EV market in India and its whole ecosystem are at a primitive stage, it is on the verge of an eventful journey, the agency noted pointing out the fact that this electricity demand escalation would put renewable power sector growth on a fast track. Another sector that will benefit from this 360-degree change is Aluminium.

Aluminium, the metal, plays a dominant role in bringing the weight of electrical vehicles down. It has been detected in various areas of electric vehicles and for the build- up of its infrastructure. Mentionable are the applications like li-ion battery or aluminium-air battery housings, e-drives, inverters, BIW, and charging stations. With EVs making steady inroads into Indian market, a whole new sectoral thrust will take aluminium consumption to the next level.

In a recent announcement Porsche said that it will launch a fully electric car in India before 2020. Many carmakers are expected to follow in the footsteps of the German carmaker in the years to follow.

India aims to have an all-electric car fleet on roads by 2030- an objective which will help lower the fuel import bill and running cost of vehicles for the country in the long run. However, in order to become a global player in EVs technology market it is required to set up large lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) manufacturing plants, as “just being an assembler of parts will not help,” observed Niti Aayog member V.K. Saraswat.

Further, the number of charging stations in the country also has to increase. Currently, Kochi in Kerala has many charging stations.

“Even petrol pumps should be equipped with charging stations and we will have to use renewable solar energy or bio—fuels for charging of EVs,” Saraswat said. “We will also have to create electric distribution company and also a regulatory framework would have to be followed.”