Indian government is expect to finalise incentives under its new battery swap scheme for electric vehicles (EVs) within the next two months, as per official, amid a broader clean mobility push to meet its decarbonisation goals.
The policy will initially focus on battery swap services for electric scooters, motorcycles, and three-wheeled auto rickshaws, the official said, in a boost for sectors like last-mile delivery and ride-sharing.
It will introduce a new policy to promote swapping, a service that allows EV drivers to replace deplet battery blocks for freshly charged ones at swap stations.
This is faster than charging the vehicle and reduces range anxiety for drivers.
A battery is also the most expensive part in an EV and swapping allows companies to offer it as a service through lease or subscription models, bringing down the cost of owning and operating the vehicle, industry executives say.
Government is likely to offer EV owners an incentive of up to 20% of the total subscription or lease cost of the battery and this will be in addition to what they already get for buying clean vehicles.
In 2019, India set aside Rs. 10,000 crore to promote EVs by giving incentives directly to buyers, but only about 10% of this has been used.
Incentives for battery swapping will likely be given from the same fund, the official said.
Globally, battery swapping has been slow to gain traction especially among carmakers.
In India, oil giant Reliance Industries has form a joint venture with Britain’s BP to offer battery swapping.
Motorbike maker Hero MotoCorp and Taiwan’s Gogoro have also partner to set up swap stations, and the service is offer by start-up Sun Mobility as well.
Government will also define battery design and charging standards for companies that want to set up swap stations.
This is to ensure the batteries can be use across EV models of different automakers, the official said.
