Electric Automobile: Why is China ahead of India?

“Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai”(Indians and Chinese are brothers), this is a common quote we can hear around us whenever the nationals of the two countries meet. If we compare China with India in development, technology, manufacturing and innovations it looks like that we are too far from our eastern neighbour. In 1980, the per capita GDP of China was $194.80 and that of India was $263.84, means we were ahead of China in 1980 but from there China grew at a rate of 10 per cent till 2010 and pushed us behind. Similarly, if we compare the electric automobile industry of China and India we can analyse why China is always ahead of India. Here is a small timeline of Chinese electric automobile industry and India’s electric automobile industry:

China

• In 1990s, China started developing two-wheeler electric bikes. In 1998, 56,000 electric bikes and scooters were sold which grew to 21 million in 2008, says a report on “Comparison of Common Urban Travel modes in China”.
• In 2001, China started 863 EV Project for the development of pure Electric Vehicle (EV), hybrid EV and fuel-cell vehicles which is funded by the government.
• In 2004, 16 Chinese state-owned companies formed an association known as Electric Vehicle Association to develop standards and technologies in order to create a market for e-vehicles.
• In 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, Chinese automakers provided around 500 fuel-efficient and new energy-developed vehicles.
• In 2009, the government announced many subsidy and investment plans for new e-vehicles industrialisation.
• In 2010, Chinese government drafted the Auto Industry Development Plan 2011-2020 to transform the domestic auto industry. Under this plan, many R&D centers were developed by manufacturing companies and educational institutes.
• In 2018, China sold 1.2 million e-vehicles which is three times the sales in the USA. All major cities of China adopting e-vehicles as public transport.

India

• In 1996, first electric vehicle in India was developed by Scooters India Pvt Ltd. It was called Three Wheeler VIKRAM SAFA.
• In 1999, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd launched its first electric three-wheeler. In 2000, BHEL developed 18-seater electric bus.
• In 2001, REVA entered in electric car market in Bengaluru. In 2007, in two-wheeler segment Hero Cycles launched a series of electric bikes and then different car manufacturers started entering in the Indian market.
• In 2010, the government announced scheme to incentivise electric vehicles but discontinued the scheme in 2012 due to 70 per cent drop in EVs.
• In 2013, the government launched “National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020” to provide subsidies and creating infrastructure for EVs.
• In 2015, FAME scheme was launched by the government and in 2019, FAME Phase-II was launched. FAME stands for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles, focus areas under this scheme was demand creation, technology development and charging infrastructure.

After comparing these timelines we can easily conclude that why China is ahead of India in electric automobile. China started in the early 1990s and we started in late in the same decade, at that time we were just behind but key differentiator in both timeline is government.

Chinese government started the initiative in 2001 as compared to Indian government which started in 2010. This nine-year gap led China to dominate Electric Vehicle Industry. In China EV movement is government and industry-driven whereas in India it was only industry-driven in starting but now it is moving towards government driven as well. In 2012, when Indian government discontinued its incentives scheme, half the number of electric vehicles dealer in country shut their shops and more than 50 per cent of two-wheeler electric manufacturers were out of business due to poor demand. This widened the 9-year gap to 11 years and we pushed ourselves back.

But now electric vehicle industry in India has again started growing gradually, government and industries working together to make it flourish.

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