December 6, 2019: India is considering scrapping all cars over 15 years old in a policy to run alongside its Bharat Stage regulations, which have been gradually implemented in a series since 2000 in an effort to control vehicle emissions, IESA president Rahul Walawalkar told BESB on December 2.
The India Energy Storage Alliance head said work was being done on implementing a new law to scrap old cars as well as put in force the Bharat Stage VI regulation, under which by April 1, 2020 diesel vehicles will have to reduce their NOx levels by 70%, petrol cars by 25%. On-board diagnostics will also be compulsory on all cars to measure emissions.
The regulations are in line with the Indian government’s ambition to make all new cars electric-only by 2030 — a move that Walawalkar says is unrealistic: “There is no way that we will be totally EV by 2030, it’s not going to happen, but it’s going in that direction,“ he said. “It might be achieved by 2035.”
Moreover, as a spokesperson for the International Lead Zinc Development Association points out, the government has bowed to increasing pressure from automotive OEMs themselves to slow down the uptake of lithium vehicles.
The government continues to push lithium-ion batteries with its FAME regulations, which exclude lead batteries from the subsidies it offers other chemistries, principally lithium-ion.
“The government view is that lead doesn’t need subsidizing and actually IESA as an organization tries to find things that are not dependent on being subsidized as we believe they are not sustainable. We want to remove the barriers that don’t allow competition,” he says.
“There are a number of applications where the need for daily recycling of batteries is becoming a real threat for lead batteries, for example with high-speed two-wheelers, which the government wants to see more of.
“The cost of lithium is coming down, and lithium batteries in high-speed two-wheelers have a life expectancy of two to five years, sometimes lasting longer than the actual vehicle, whereas lead batteries in a high-speed two-wheeler can last only six months.
“We need to wake up and see some of the changes that are happening and be ready to meet those challenges. With lead, you can’t lower the base cost, but you can improve the design and the materials. For some applications, such as stationary and microgrid, there is no reason why they should move to other technologies.”
Walawalkar said the government had offered incentives for 50GW of energy storage in advanced chemistry cells to be installed by 2023, but the incentives did not apply to lead batteries, since they were already being manufactured in India.
“Other batteries are being imported into India, so the government can’t see why these are not made in India instead,” he said.
“The government wants to make India a global hub for R&D and manufacturing of advanced energy storage and EV technologies. And this won’t be limited to batteries — it will be power and electrics, electric motors, drive trains — the entire value chain.
“There have already been more than 100 business start-ups in the past 18 months in the energy storage and EV space, and the corporation tax rate reduction from 35% to 17% has seen India’s business ranking improve.
“Instead of depending on others, India can do it on its own.”
