To speed up adoption of green vehicles and de-carbonise India’s economy, the Budget announced a battery-swapping policy with inter-operability at its core.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said ‘battery as a service’ will be developed as a new business model as the drive to increase fast-charging networks speeds up, especially in urban areas. “The private sector will be encouraged to develop business models for ‘Battery or Energy as a Service’. This will improve efficiency in the EV (electric vehicle) ecosystem,” Sitharaman said.
The swapping facility will allow riders to exchange a worn-out battery with a fully-charged one for a fee. It could be a game-changer. A clear policy framework will encourage investments from companies such as Reliance BP Mobility and Hero MotoCorp. Kenichi Ayukawa, MD & CEO of Maruti Suzuki, who heads Siam, said the association will work with the government in the area of special mobility zones and battery swapping policy.