Government to push for battery swapping infra for faster EV adoption: Official

New Delhi: The Indian government is working to facilitate infrastructure for battery swapping for electric vehicles that would give a boost for green mobility in the country, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Talking to media on the concluding day of the Bharat Mobility Global Expo, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce Vimal Anand said a significant progress has been achieved in development of charging facilities in the country.

“Battery swapping will be a big thing,” he said, adding the government would actively promote the development of battery swapping infrastructure.

He said technology has made it possible to replace batteries of a vehicle in just 90 seconds. The battery swapping facilities would be critically important for boosting EV adoption in commercial vehicles, especially bus and trucks.

Battery swapping is a process of replacing a depleted battery with a charged one at a swapping station. It takes around 3-5 hours to charge an EV bus. Swapping can be done within a few minutes.

Speaking at the media briefing Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal said around 90 vehicles, mostly EVs, were launched during the Bharat Mobility Global Expo.

Key launches include Maruti Suzuki’s e-Vitara, Hyundai’s Creta Electric, and  BMW X1 Long Wheelbase All Electric. Maruti Suzuki has unveiled plans to manufacture electric vehicles at its Gujarat plant.

Agrawal said several innovative products were also unveiled in heavy vehicles, auto component and tyre segments.

“We saw over 200 product unveils over a period of five days which is a record in itself,” he said.

The second edition of the Bharat Mobility Global Expo was held from January 17-22 across three venues Bharat Mandapam and Yashobhoomi in the national capital and India Expo Mart in Greater Noida.

Agrawal informed that the number of visitors to the expo rose to over 8 lakh this year from last year’s around 1.5 lakh. Over 1,500 exhibitors participated in the event.

When asked whether the government plans to make Bharat Mobility Global Expo an annual event, Agrawal said the decision would be taken after consulting the industry representatives.