New Delhi: Carbon-based taxation can act as an impactful policy lever in India’s push towards electrification, Vikram Kirloskar, vice-chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said.
Kirloskar was speaking at the ETAuto EV Conclave on ‘The Path to Electrification of Powertrain in India’. He emphasised, “We feel that a carbon-based tax will better serve our national objectives. It will also attract investment for EV part manufacturing and will push the electrification acceptance faster.”
Excise duty or GST based on carbon emission is typically proportionate to fuel consumption and climate change. Carbon-based tax can not only be used for vehicles but for a lot of other engineering products, added the industry veteran. It will propel India to become more technology agnostic.
He said that India should take a cue from the neighbouring countries like Thailand and Indonesia. Thailand has already started some kind of carbon-based tax based on their ambition and availability of technology. Meanwhile, Indonesia is proposing taxation on the same lines.
According to Kirloskar, there is a need to push the technology frontier on all segments of vehicles.
Our carbon emission levels and water use in production have been reduced dramatically. Our strategy is different vehicle solutions for different countries based on their primary source of energy.Vikram Kirloskar, Vice-Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor
Approach to localisation of EVs
Demand generation and supply-side interventions are equally important to scale up the whole EV ecosystem. Lower taxation, government encouraging the purchase of EVs and putting in the infrastructure for electrification are some of the important parts for demand creation. On the supply side, scale is the most critical factor.
“On the supply side, there is a need to figure out how to make four or five critical items (e.g. high-tech motor components, power control units and special electro steel) in India and scale them up by demand aggregation of EV parts by different manufacturers”, Kirloskar said.
He feels that incentives, not only for supply in India but also for exports and demand aggregation can help this ecosystem and create the much-needed scale.
Keeping in line with the current developments in the Indian EV landscape, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and government-sponsored city transport are going to witness faster electrification.
“There is a lot of scope for battery exchanges within two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Many different entrepreneurs and innovators are coming up in this space. We will see large growth in this area very fast”, he added.
In its journey towards achieving the target of 30% electric vehicles by 2030, India needs to look at different strategies for different kinds of applications so that all technologies are going to be important.
“We have a target of 30% conversion to electric by 2030, which still leaves 70% and we need to worry about that 70% of ICE. We have to convert those to make sure that we get the full benefit of fuel reduction, carbon reduction and a good environment. So we have to look wholesomely at the industry as we go ahead towards electrification”, Kirloskar said.
The core technology, as well as customer acceptance, is the key to adapting to this new generation of vehicles. Some of the key considerations put forward by the Toyota Kirloskar vice chairman are convenience and performance, infrastructure availability, and usage requirements among others.
Toyota which has been electrifying vehicles since 1997 has envisioned to go to zero emissions by 2050, not only on the vehicle side but also in the entire production system. The company has already started to work on its production areas, also in India, very strongly.
Kirloskar said, “Our carbon emission levels and water use in production have been reduced dramatically. Our strategy is different vehicle solutions for different countries based on their primary source of energy.”
The Japanese automaker is focussing on the entire supply chain, from the battery plant to the end-of-life vehicles dismantling and recycling units.
ETAuto EV Conclave 2021 spread over March 16 and 17 will have the participation of government officials, industry leaders, experts and technocrats.
The event is supported by Varroc, Tata Power, Tata Communications, Hexagon, Infineon, Altair, NBC, Ansys, Hitachi ABB, Padmini VNA, and Anritsu.
