Welcome to our first blog of monthly series Green EVolution. We will be doing(atleast trying) a monthly round up of all major EV & Renewable energy news that happened in country(until & unless something get missed). Click on headline to get to source of news. Views expressed, if any, are of Nikhil Chaudhary.
Lets Start
As a part of the national electric mobility programme, Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) and HPCL have entered into a two-year MoU to set up public charging infrastructure across the country.
The MoU covers collaboration for planning, development and installation of charging facilities at suitable locations for two, three, and four-wheeler vehicles.
India has installed 84 GW of Renewable Capacity mark by end of November 2019. With addition of 6084.48 MW in 2019-2020.
84.39 GW includes 37.28 GW wind, 32.52 GW solar, 9.94 GW bio-power & 4.65 GW small hydro. At present 31.68 GW capacity projects are in various stage of implementation & 18.68 GW capacity projects are under various stage of bidding.
India needs INR 400,000 crore over next 3 yrs to achieve 175 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022.
The Govt has sanctioned setting up 2,636 charging stations (1,633 fast charging and 1,003 slow charging stations) in 62 cities across 24 states and UTs under the FAME scheme.
317 EV charging stations have been sanctioned in Maharashtra, 266 in Andhra Pradesh, 256 in Tamil Nadu, 228 in Gujarat, 205 in Rajasthan, 207 in Uttar Pradesh, 172 in Karnataka, 159 in Madhya Pradesh, 141 in West Bengal, 138 in Telangana, 131 in Kerala, 72 in Delhi, 70 in Chandigarh, 50 in Haryana, 40 in Meghalaya, 37 in Bihar, 29 in Sikkim, 25 each in Jammu, Srinagar, and Chhattisgarh, 20 in Assam, 18 in Odisha and 10 each in Uttarakhand, Puducherry and Himachal Pradesh.
About 14,000 chargers will be installed across the selected cities.
This is good start. Hoping that fast chargers will be atleast DC 50 kw ones and have CCS2 port and slow chargers be atleast AC 7.2 kw ones with type 2 plug.
"Industry got a big shock when FAME II started. People are now learning to survive without government assistance to some extent at least. The result of this is that subsidised vehicle sales have dropped drastically but industry sales has not dropped," SMEV. "Market should have shifted towards higher speed and greater performance, which has not happened."
As per SMEV data, sales of FAME II qualified electric two-wheelers in April-December 2019 period stood at just 3,000 units as against 48,671 units in the year-ago period when FAME I was in place, a decline of 93.84 per cent. On the other hand, as per industry estimates, non-subsidised electric two-wheeler sales stood at 49,000 units during the period as compared to around 10,000 units in the year-ago period when FAME I was in place.
Mahindra eKUV100 will arrive in next quarter of 2020 with price tag under Rs. 9 L.
Power on the Mahindra eKUV100 will come from a 40 kW electric that belts out about 53 bhp and 120 Nm of peak torque. A single-speed transmission will be sending power to the front wheels. The car will come with a 15.9 kWh lithium-ion battery and is expected to offer a range of 120 km on a single charge.
Not happy with this range, but better than same range e verito and tigor ev for 12+L. Good for fleet owners.
Under the MoU, ABB Power Grids’ business in India will be responsible for engineering, installation and commissioning of the TOSA charging system, while Ashok Leyland will have the scope of manufacturing and supplying e buses compatible with the technology.
The partnership was started in 2015 with 10 e20, and then quickly progressed with eVerito electric cars.
Sanjay Krishnan, Co-Founder & CEO, Lithium Urban Technologies, said: "Mahindra has been with every step of Lithium’s journey to sustainably revolutionize urban corporate mobility in India. The partnership that started off with the purchase of the Mahindra e2o in 2015, has now touched the magic figure of 1,000 Mahindra EVs as part of our EV fleet. As a result, we’ve been able to achieve 100 million e KMs."
Bajaj launched its first electric scooter, Chetak Electric, price starting at INR 1L.
The Chetak Urbane edition with drum brakes will be priced at INR 1 lakh, while the Chetak Premium edition with disc brakes is priced at INR 1.15 lakh. The Urbane edition features solid colours with glossy finish, while the Premium variant features metallic paint, among other cosmetic changes.
Comes with a 3 years/50,000 km standard warranty. The Chetak's electric motor provides 4 kW (5.36 bhp) of peak power, and 3.8 kW (5 bhp) of continuous power, and 16 Nm of torque. Claims 85km range in sports mode & 95km range in eco mode.
Merc launched EQ brand in India. There's big news coming from Mercedes-Benz as the company's EQ sub-brand will launch the EQC all-electric SUV in India by April 2020. The EQC will target a small market.
In a first, Kadiyam station in Rajahmundry earned the rare distinction of being the first energy neutral station in the South Central Railway Zone by meeting all its electrical demands through solar energy.
The entire electrical load of the station works on the 10KWp solar power plant during the day and excess units generated from the plant are fed to discom (distribution companies) through net-metering. Similarly, during night, the power requirement of the building is taken from discoms which will be deducted from energy supplied to discom during day, hence the energy consumption charges paid is zero from the railways.
Renewable energy (including large hydro) accounted for almost 36% of India’s total power capacity mix at the end of the 2019.
Renewables (including large hydro) accounts for about 133.2 GW, up from 122.8 GW last year, an 8.5% rise.
The total capacity of 97.5 MW has been divided into three categories. The first category is for 10 MW under the CAPEX Model (Part-A), the second is for 85 MW for RESCO Model (Part-B), and the third is for 2.5 MW under the CAPEX Model (Part-C).
The largest solar park in the world has now become entirely operational, The Pavagada Solar Park, located in Tumakuru district of Karnataka.
The entire 2,050 MW of solar projects in Pavagada is operational and generating power.
The state boast of renewables share of 62% in its power mix. The share of solar in the total installed power capacity is 22%.
Mind blowing. Guys this is happening. Happening right now in India. And there goes the argument that you can't have things on Renewable alone. Also that your EV is powering from coal & not clean. Shows that it can be achieved.
The Hyundai Kona Electric has achieved a spot in the Guinness World Records under the 'Highest Altitude Achieved In An Electric Car' category. The Kona Electric was driven to an altitude of 5,731 meters to Sawula Pass in Tibet.
Amazon India has confirmed that it will have 10,000 electric vehicles in its delivery fleet by 2025. The announcement comes just days after Amazon president & CEO, Jeff Bezos visited India. The e-commerce giant has already started including e-rickshaws in the delivery fleet.
Priced At ₹ 59,900, the BattRE LoEV boasts of dual disc brakes, fast charging in just two hours, and a detachable battery.
Maharashtra Proposes Grid Charges on Net Metering Rooftop Solar Systems Over 10 kW. MSEDCL argues that net metering has created additional pressures for distribution licensees.
Last month, YULU announced its partnership with South Western Railways to promote the adoption of electric vehicles and help citizens move within the city in an eco-friendly and affordable way. 130 battery-operated two-wheelers at exclusive parking zones provided by the South Western Railways will be available across seven stations, including Bengaluru Cantonment, Bangalore East, Whitefield, Hoodi Halt, Bellandur Road, K R Puram, and Baiyapnahhli.
India witnessed a sharp rise in new coal-based power generation capacity last year, with dirty power plants accounting for 44% of the total new power generation capacity added in the country. The share is a huge increase from just 21% in 2017 and 25% in 2018.
India’s power generation sector witnessed 7.8 gigawatts of net coal-fired generation capacity coming online in 2019.
As per government data, between March 2015 and December 2019 India added 98 gigawatts of power generation capacity. 52% of this was based on renewable energy technologies dominated by solar power, which saw addition of 30 gigawatts of new projects. Over the last five years, solar power capacity in India has increased 10 times to 33.7 gigawatts as of 31 December 2019.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) managing director C Shikha said: “We are looking at converting all our fleet into EV by 2030 and to achieve this target we will start procuring only EVs from 2022. BMTC is procuring 300 EVs under FAME II-this year and 500 more for the next financial year."
The new TVS iQube Electric Scooter is priced at ₹ 1.15 lakh (on-road, Bangalore) and will be first sold in its home market Bangalore before introducing the model in other cities. The company has installed a production capacity of 1,000 units per month for the new iQube.
The scooter is powered by an electric motor that develops about 6 bhp and a peak torque output of 140 Nm. It has a top speed of 78 kmph. The scooter promises a range of 75 km on a single charge and can sprint from 0-40 kmph in 4.2 seconds. There is a 4.5 kWh lithium-ion batttery, which charges from nought to full in 5 hours. There is no fast-charging available at the moment for the TVS iQube.
Seems bit inefficient compared to ather 450 and chetak electric, claiming 75km from 4.5kwh battery! And no fast charging. But good start.
India is going to need more battery storage than any other country for its ambitious renewables push
Increasing deployment of variable renewables and changes in electricity demand patterns will double the global need to source power system flexibility, including from batteries. Under stated policies, renewables make up two-thirds of all additions to global power generation capacity through 2040, and solar PV becomes the largest source of installed capacity around 2035. These trends will drive a significant increase in the use of battery storage, led by India, which is projected to account for more than one-third of total deployment by 2040.
And here lies the huge opportunity for Tesla in Solar & Energy Storage apart from cars.
Niti Aayog seeks Cabinet nod for battery push
The move is part of an effort to push use of EVs, for which high battery cost is a big hurdle. The batteries, currently being imported, account for more than half the cost of an EV and local manufacturing could help bring this down. The projects would cost as much as $5 billion (Rs 35,500 crore).
The Niti Aayog has sought Cabinet approval for a proposal to build up to 10 large factories that would get subsidies to produce lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. Once it gets the nod, the Aayog will invite bids for setting up these gigafactories, with a total capacity of 50 Gigawatt hours (GWh), over 10 years,
The Tata Nexon EV comes in three variants - XM, XZ+, XZ+ LUX with introductory price of 13.99L, 14.99L, 15.99L respectively.
The Nexon EV comes with a permanent magnet AC motor, powered by a Lithium-Ion battery pack that is liquid-cooled and IP67 certified. The Nexon EV gets a 30.2 kWh battery with ARAI claimed range of 312km.
Tata Nexon EV will come with 3 buying options - Standard Finance Scheme, Subscription Plan and Leasing Facility for Corporates.
Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, and Tata AutoComp have come together to make the Nexon EV and the electric ecosystem, including battery cells, charging infrastructure, and more.
Tata Chemicals has also working on recycling plant for batteries. Tata AutoComp is also setting up a production facility to built battery packs and EV components.
Tata Power to setup 300 DC fast chargers by March 2020 & 650 by March 2021.
This is amazing. Whole Tata group coming together. Creating an ecosystem. This is important. Excited to see battery cell development at Tata.
The Ather 450X has been launched with two performance plans - the Ather 450X Plus and Ather 450X Pro.
450X Plus will be replacing 450.
Pricing begins at ₹ 99,000 for the Ather 450X Plus, as well as monthly subscription charges of ₹ 1,699 per month, or ₹ 1.49 lakh upfront pricing without subscription(still need to pay for data/service to use features). For 450X Pro its 99,000 with monthly subscription of 1,999/month or 1.59 lakh upfront.
Claimed range of 85km.
Read CarandBike review here.
We got a chance to attend Ather 450X launch and do a small interview with Ravneet & Arun.
- No more 450.
- 450 is not 450X Plus with some feature addition.
- Strength is performance.
- Not aimed at long term owners.
- Hopefully international presence in 12-15 months.
Read the full interview here
Check out the photo album from our visit to launch event.
By:- Nikhil Chaudhary & Atharva Karnik
Team Tesla Club India
Building a Community for Future
Join our telegram chat group - Tesla Club India .
Follow us on twitter- Tesla Club India, Nikhil Chaudhary, Arun Bhat S