India is quickly moving in the direction of e-mobility with the intent to increase demand for electric vehicles (EV’s). Also, the support from government in terms of easing regulations, launching new schemes to incentivise the customers and manufacturers, reduction in battery cost and availability of charging infrastructure are expected to be instrumental for mass and quick adoption of EV’s. The booming EV market will be a major contributor for the economic growth in the automotive sector as well as for generating jobs.

The industry is expected to be moving away from fossil fuels to Electric Vehicles very fast and it is expected to have around 58% of the market share by 2030. The demand will surge for all, across the automotive segment. However, more surge is expected in the two and three wheelers segment in the next 3-5 years.

This huge growth will bring lots of opportunities and challenges for the automotive sector in the country.

Challenges:

●  Lack of Charging infrastructure

●  Lack of Battery and Motor Manufacturing

●  Lack of Trained Manpower

●  High Initial cost

●  R&D Activities Opportunities for Start-ups: Start-ups will play a pivotal role in the evolving e-mobility space, charging infrastructure and mobility are the key opportunities for start-ups. Additionally, Battery and Motor Manufacturing would be another growth opportunity for the start-ups, and for this they need to adopt technologies like Ansys (Simulation) and Stratasys (3D Printers) to design and develop better and safer products. These solutions will help them to reduce cost and time to market by understanding the behaviour of products in different environments and conditions digitally. Also, with the use of 3D printing technology, companies need not to wait for months for the costly tooling’s – even for prototyping purposes. 3D printers will help them to reduce product development cost dramatically, on-demand availability of physical prototypes, mass customization and additionally can be used in many other ways to innovate and design better products. Also, in 2019, Government of India launched the FAME II scheme, thru which the government has proposed to invest about USD 1.4 billion to incentivize the production of electric vehicles in the country. However, FAME II policy also requires 50% localization in vehicle production to avail of the incentive. This will give huge opportunities to start-ups for exploring the manufacturing opportunities in India.