Just under a week ago, Chancellor Scholz met with the Indian Prime Minister. His goal: to profit from the opportunities and capabilities of the subcontinent in the areas of wind energy, solar energy, biomass, hydrogen and, above all, electromobility. Is India becoming a pioneer of electric mobility?
The number of electric cars in India is steadily increasing: from 20,000 in 2018 to 300,000 cars four years later. By comparison, Germany had just under 850,000 e-cars at the end of 2022, out of a total number of passenger cars of 49 million. However, e-cars also include all plug-in hybrids, which are not guaranteed to always switch to electric drive. With a share of 64 percent in Germany, petrol cars still account for the largest share, followed by diesel cars with just under 31 percent. The declared goal of the traffic light coalition is 15 million e-cars - by 2030. We remember: five years later, no new combustion cars are to be registered throughout the EU. This is an ambitious goal, which is comparable to the goals of the Indian government.
The Indian government has set up a comprehensive programme that promotes e-cars and supports the expansion of the charging infrastructure. In addition, India also wants to ban dirty combustion cars from its roads: From 2026, motorised rickshaws and tuk tuks are to be powered only by electricity - defacto, this means a ban on driving internal combustion vehicles. Will this be implemented in the form of environmental zones? Since New Delhi is one of the cities with the dirtiest air in the world, a ban on combustion cars and a switch to electric cars is urgently needed. However, electric cars are many times more expensive than in this country. The luxury segment is particularly hard hit: a Porsche Taycan costs the equivalent of almost 150,000 euros in India, while here you only have to shell out around 90,000 euros. This is mainly due to the world's highest penalty taxes for luxury cars imported from abroad. Another challenge is the charging network, which cannot yet keep up with sales: So far, there are only 1800 charging stations for the whole country with its 1.4 billion inhabitants; by 2027, the number should increase to 100,000 columns. Since it is not certain that this will be enough, some car brands are relying on their own initiatives. Ford, for example, is already tinkering with charging stations where several vehicles can tap electricity at the same time. Mercedes Benz India has even developed and set up its own fast-charging network with 140 charging points for luxury cars.
But even though India is well on its way to becoming the pioneer of electric mobility, the government still needs to find a way to lower prices while at the same time massively pushing the expansion of charging infrastructure. With 1.42 billion inhabitants and 166 billionaires, the potential for a pioneering role in e-mobility is certainly there.