India is moving towards an electric future, and the signs are all around us; financing is often at the centre of the discussion. And while everyone appreciates the need for a more enabling financing ecosystem, we also need to address other core issues, which will eventually unlock financing in these areas. For example, I firmly believe that the charging infrastructure will lead the adoption rather than sales of vehicles. People and fleet operators will only commit to EVs when they know charging is quick, reliable, and easily accessible wherever they operate.
If India’s EV ecosystem has to change for progress, I believe the challenge is, how do you make the shift easier and more sustainable? The macro-level evolution of battery technology and EV adoption is beyond question. However, various challenges in the EV/clean mobility value & consumption chain make the transition difficult and friction-filled.
Fleet operators need accurate, real-time data to run their businesses well. It’s important for them to assess Remaining Useful Life (RuL): monitor State of Health (SoH). We also need to assess the current condition of vehicle components, particularly batteries in electric vehicles, which helps optimise performance and plan for future needs, as well as ascertain the commercial value of degradation & help optimise commercial fleets’ profit & loss with actionable data-led insights.
This helps them manage costs, plan maintenance, and improve profits, which is now possible with platforms like TapFin FleetForce working towards solving these daily challenges in fleet operations.
For lenders and leasing companies, this same data is the key to reducing risk and making underwriting decisions. When they understand exactly how a vehicle and battery are performing, they can offer economical financing, backed by data and more accessible. This, in turn, helps more people afford EVs.
It doesn’t stop at the financing and data-monitoring stage. We must plan for what happens when batteries and vehicles reach the final state. End-of-life management of batteries & vehicles via refurbishments, redeployment, and recycling is another core area to address, enabling refurbishers and recyclers to play a key role in the ecosystem.
Making India’s electric future real is a shared responsibility. OEMs, fleet operators, financiers, governments and policymakers, and technology providers all have a role to play — and success depends on how well we work together.
If we do this right, we’ll achieve energy security, create more jobs and skills in sustainable technology, and have a stronger, greener economy.
