Budget 2022: EV push with battery swapping policy

Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget 2022 announcement stated, "Considering the space constraint in the urban area for setting up charging stations at scale, a battery swapping policy will be brought out and interoperability standards will be formulated.

Private sector will be encouraged to develop sustainable and innovative business models for battery and energy as a service. This will improve efficiency in the EV ecosystem."

The EV ecosystem of the country has been waiting for an impetus of sorts. Though the budget announcement and its focus on urban planning, clean tech and mobility does promote EV for public transport, the rates of electric bikes, cars remain unchanged. Sushant Kumar, CEO & MD, AMO Electric Bikes, believes the announcement will at the very least alleviate anxiety and increase EV acceptance among the general public.

"In the EV sector, the FM has rightly specified the necessary elements in the budget that the country's EV producers have been requesting for a long time. She is committed to promoting greener and cleaner transportation solutions in India by enacting a number of initiatives, many of which include attempts to expand charging infrastructure around the country. The FM also mentioned a crucial regulatory shift with the battery swapping service as a solution to range anxiety and rapid EV adoption," Kumar states.

The budget announcement for EV also stated the need for the development of interoperability standards, which would assist Indian manufacturers to establish joint ventures with major technological partners from other countries, hence boosting long-term EV business in India.

Sanjay Gupta who is the Vice President and India Managing Director, NXP Semiconductors says, "In order to promote cleaner mobility, the battery swapping policy and interoperability standards that government plans to introduce, incorporates the concept of energy/battery as a service. The announcement will give impetus to the private sector to develop sustainable and innovative business models for battery and energy as a service.”

He further added, “The scheme for design led manufacturing to be launched for 5G ecosystem as part of PLI will be a boost to the overall telecom and electronic sectors. It will also provide and promote research and development of technology and solutions and will enable affordable broadband and mobile communication.

Akash Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, Zypp Electric agress that the battery swapping and interoperability initiative is a much needed boost but "would have loved if GST in battery and spare parts had also been reduced to 5% like it's there for E-vehicles purchases; this would also help the entire electric vehicle ecosystem."