Characterizing the economic competitiveness of battery electric vehicles in India

Abstract

Electric Vehicles being at a nascent stage in India, albeit at a slower growth rate, faces a significant barrier of economic compatibility. For countries like India, the economic aspect plays a vital role in the widespread of Electric Vehicles. Concentrating on the cost aspect, this paper contemplates the economic compatibility of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with conventional IC Engine Vehicles (ICEVs), considering a paring vehicle approach and analysing the case study of India. As less research is carried out for India, we aim to develop an extensive total cost of ownership (TCO) model. Furthermore, the Sensitivity analysis presents the effect on TCO by considering parameters as incentives, reduction in battery prices, finance interest rates and Annual Kilometre Travelled (AKT) &EV + PV integration. For the base case, a much abysmal performance is observed for BEVs. While accounting for various Sensitivity analysis parameters, some BEVs reach cost parity while some become more economical than ICEVs.