Until recently, there were moves to ensure that all passenger vehicles sold by were electric vehicles EVs. The latest reports suggest that instead of a mandate or target, the government should focus on an enabling framework for EVs. A more India-specific concern will be that of the electricity grid. Can it handle this demand? How does this help the environment if most power comes from coal-fired power? A simple answer given by many is that we will use solar photovoltaics PV to charge EVs.
Solar power has a well-known bell-curved shape for maximum possible output, with a peak around noon, falling to zero output by night. Therefore, for anyone plugging in an EV, or even switching on a light bulb, this means that RE may at best contribute some fraction of energy at different times the wind often does blow overnight. But overnight also rules out solar energy, except in a yet unproven model of battery swapping, which may anyway be geared more towards selected fleet vehicles.
A subtler question is what will be the source of additional supply into the grid, i. RE should never be a swing producer as it is fleeting use-it-or-lose-it and a swing producer, by definition, has to be available on-demand. While in the US it is natural gas, in India it is coal.
EVs can and should use RE as much as possible. All rights reserved. On: February 23,
