Will safety concerns derail India’s push for electric vehicles?

Encouraging a quick transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is at the heart of India’s efforts to overhaul its transportation industry. It is also because transport accounts for more than 140 million tonnes of carbon emissions - making it the third-largest emitter of CO2 in India. Sales of EVs have been going up consistently in the last few years, leading to suggestions that the industry is about to hit a turning point, but a recent spate of fire incidents in electric two-wheelers has raised severe safety concerns and experts say it is time for the government to bring in proper regulation and safety standards in the EV industry.

How hard has consumer confidence been hit? Would incentives to buy EVs fuel its adoption, or would people rather wait for the technology to become more reliable and opt for ICE (a conventional vehicle, powered by the internal combustion engine) vehicles instead?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors:
Rajiv Kumar, economist, former vice chairman, Niti Aayog
Sulajja Motwani, founder and CEO of Kinetic Green Energy, vice chairperson Kinetic Group
Kedar Soman, chief technology officer, eBikeGo

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