22 September, Bengaluru 
CII Karnataka organised the Third Edition of Electric Vehicle Policy today at Bengaluru. Addressing the theme, Propellers of Sustainable Mobility for Future, the platform brainstormed on key facets of the ecosystem.
Addressing the conference, Mr Randheer Singh, Director, Electric Mobility & Senior Team Member for Advanced Chemistry Cells Program, NITI Aayogmentioned that the industry was undergoing radical changes which will eventually be materialised in the next 2-3 months, especially in the 2 wheeler segment. Other than EVs being sustainable, the pace of transition and development to EVs need to be sustainable as well. Addressing the challenges of this sector, Mr Singh also mentioned that it shall not be affordable to flood the market with untested chargers, inferior quality of vehicles and battery packs that are not properly tested as this directly result not only in market development but also the consumer sentiments. As per statistics, in the first half of 2022, 5996 public charging connectors have been installed in India. Compared to 2021 to 2022, the growth in India is at 93%, which shows the remarkable growth trajectory, the country offers in this sector. Marching at this pace, it is also important to create a sustainable model.
Delivering the special address, Mr Arjun M Ranga, Chairman, CII Karnataka and Director, NR Group & Managing Director, Cycle Pure Agarbathi mentioned about the wealth of data being generated through EVs, which will help in understanding the sector better and working on further advancements. He also added that the country has been looking at Public Transportation as an important sector, and incorporating EV in the public transportation fleet would be beneficial to create a stronger ecosystem and enable further growth of the sector.
Mr N Venu, Convenor, CII Karnataka Power & Infrastructure Panel, while delivering the opening remarks addressed the challenges faced by the ecosystem and mentioned that the conference shall deliberate on the value chain and come up with possibilities to further boost the growth of this sector. Highest Capex has been one of the issues glaring at the sector enthusiasts, which stakeholders need to be working on, which has always been a matter of deliberation at various forums. Safety aspect, being a concern of the stakeholders need to be addressed with care, as robust quality and testing mechanism needs to be in place to catalyse the EV revolution and this must be of paramount importance for the manufacturers and the entire value chain.
