New Battery Swapping Policy to be introduced for e-vehicles- FM

• ByTejika Bajaj     |    February 1, 2022

The recent budget discussion has popped in the words of electric vehicle feebly as the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that the government would be announcing a new battery swapping policy for e-vehicles in the coming days. The FM also stated that the interoperability standards for EV batteries will also be formulated which thereby has to be adhered by the brands.

Sitharaman also mentioned that the urban planning would include the plan of setting up more public charging stations and furthermore, the battery swapping policy would be brought into consideration of the space constraint which is faced primarily in urban areas for setting up charging stations on a grand scale.

Battery swapping is a process whereby a private EV owner can exchange a depleted battery for a fully charged one, without having to wait for the battery to charge up to a sufficient amount. The policy, when introduced with interoperability standards, will force EV makers to manufacture EVs with standardised, removable/disposable batteries while reducing the cost of EV ownership by negating the need to purchase a new battery – currently the most expensive component of an EV.

Though the EV ecosystem expected massive slashed down GST rates as a part of the budget, the proposition seems like a far off idea for the government. There also doesn’t appear to be any framework that incentivises retro-fitting of ICE vehicles with EV powertrains.

However, with the new battery swapping policy, the infrastructure cost and the operational framework of EVs will enhance. Furthermore, the discussion has also revealed that 25,000 kms of expansion will be made on the national highway thus adding spark to the EV segment.

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