New Energy Mobility for India

New Energy Mobility Paradigm for India

times of the FAME I quantum, representing the positive market evolution bolstering the government confidence.

Manoj Kumar Upadhyay Senior Research Officer NITI Aayog, Govt. of India Kowthamraj V Sangappillai Young Professional NITI Aayog, Govt. of India

Over the last decade, the world has seen many governments across the world coming up with various initiatives to promote new energy mobility, especially battery electric mobility. China has emerged as the clear leader in this segment due to their first mover advantage and sheer will power to vertically integrate the supply chain. Recognizing the opportunity, the Indian Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved “National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage” with an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee chaired by CEO NITI Aayog in March 2019.

The motivations for new energy mobility comes from two angles. The one is sustainability and clean aspect of mobility. The second is the energy security and selfsufficiency of India, which is not well endowed with traditional mobility fuels like some of the other G20 countries. While currently the CNG and battery powered vehicles are helping the Indian transport sector become cleaner, the future might encompass e-VTOLS (the battery powered flying vehicles), Hyperloops and Maglev trains, enabling Indians move sustainably and at significantly higher speeds.

The Department of Heavy Industry launched the FAME-India Scheme Phase-I [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India] in 2015. The FAME II India Scheme proposes to give a push to electric vehicles (EVs) in public transport (especially buses) and seeks to encourage adoption of EV's by way of market creation and demand aggregation. The Total outlay of for FAME 1, was around 795 Crore to Rs. 895 Crore and the total fund requirement for FAME 2 is Rs 10,000 Crore over three years from 2019- 20 to 2021-22. It is prudent to note that the incentive capital outlay jumped ten Sustainable and Clean Globally, the environmental impact of transport is significant because transport is a major user of energy, and burns most of the world's petroleum. This creates air pollution, including nitrous oxides and particulates, and is a significant contributor to global warming through emission of carbon dioxide. Within the transport sector, road transport is the largest contributor to global warming. Environmental regulations in developed countries have reduced the individual vehicle's emission. However, this has been offset by an increase in the number of vehicles, and increased use of each vehicle (an effect known as the Jevons paradox). The GHG emissions fueled global warming and subsequent climate change will affect India’s multitude of islands and financially important cities dotting the 15000 KM Indian coastline.

With significant amount of world’s top 20 polluted cities in the world located in India, air-pollution emerges as the most important subset of this conversation. Air pollution is the fifth leading risk factor for mortality worldwide. It is responsible for more deaths than many better-known risk factors such as malnutrition, alcohol use, and physical inactivity. Each year, more

people die from air pollution–related disease than from road traffic injuries or malaria. Globally around 4.2 million people die every air due to exposure to poor quality air. So, it is important to gradually attain a paradigm shift in the way we move.

Energy Security and SelfSufficiency

In India, transport is the second largest consumer of energy after Industry at 28%. Almost all of that mobility energy come from high polluting oils. The import dependence of oils in 2019 stands at 86.89%. India with a growing economy depends a lot on mobility to transport goods and people. As highlighted by recent global events, a small disruption in the global value chain can affect the sensitive oil prices. This reality cannot continue and a need for transformative but measured transition to localized energy sources powering mobility is imminent.

Rational for Electrification

India has significantly improved its electricity access in the last 20 years with special acceleration in last 7 years. Electrification of mobility (in effect any energy intensive sector) achieves two objectives for India. It reduces the air pollution in urban conglomerations (transport is the No.1 source of PM 2.5) leading to better quality of living and strongly supports the reduction in oil imports. India already has emerged as a global leader in e-3 wheeler space and it’s not going to take long before Indian e-2 wheelers are absorbed by the market. The reduction in battery prices and increasing offerings is attracting value-conscious consumer and soon electrification of India’s most common mode of mobility will complement the vastly improved ICE vehicles.

There is an argument that given the major share of electricity generation comes from thermal sources, electrification won’t achieve the desired effects. But, India is already among the top 5 renewable electricity producing countries in the world with 85 GW installed capacity. We are expected to grow to 450 GW by 2030. But, we can’t reach the desired results if we start electrifying after reaching majority renewable share in electricity. We have to build green supply and green demand simultaneously. Intra-city buses, LCVs, 2/3 wheelers and cars are going to be gradually electrified supported by market demand and consumer awareness. The charging and swapping infrastructure will grow hand in hand with the sales and the maturity ofbusiness models supported by the state incentives.

Way forward for Heavy Duty Vehicles

HDV –Heavy Duty Vehicles form the majority of vehicular emissions in countries like India. The majority of emission from HDVs might be outside of urban agglomerations, as heavy-duty trucks with long-haul travel account for three-quarters of HDV fuel consumption. Rising emissions and energy use in this segment are driven primarily by strong economic activity and increased demand for goods, which translates into more delivery and more trucking activity.

Electrifying Long haul Heavy Duty Vehicles has many engineering challenges and requires transformative improvement in both gravimetric and volumetric energy density of batteries. So, in medium term, varieties of natural gas and second generation bio-fuels are the best bet for HDVs, to cut their emissions significantly. In the long term, hydrogen produced from surplus renewable capacity (on-site or bulk) might be the way to go for trucks.

Future modes of transportation

It is important to note that gradual and significant improvements to existing mobility modes like national and transnational train networks, airplanes, HDVs and personal vehicles will continue to play a significant role in improving the sustainability of the sector. At the same time, world has intermittently seen transformative mobility systems, which took the market by storm. Examples are the airplane by Right brothers or Model Tof Henry Ford. Following are some of the exciting developments in the 21 st century which might shape our lifestyle in the centuries to come.

The Hyperloop : Engineers around the world are testing a radically different type of mass transit: one that aims to move people and cargo in small wheel-less pods in a vacuum tube at speeds that could exceed 600 miles per hour. Today’s swiftest rail travel, at top speeds less than halfas fast, would become a quaint ifthis takes off. The challenges are mainly in land acquisition in straightlines.

The Bullet Trains : Though a staple in Japan and recently growing in China, Maglev trains are still not mainstream in majority of the world. Maglev (derived from magnetic levitation) is a system of train transportation that uses two sets of magnets, one set to repel and push the train up off the track, and another set to move the elevated train ahead, taking advantage of the lack of friction. Along certain "medium-range" routes (usually 320 to 640), maglev can compete favorably with high-speed rail and airplanes. e-VTOLS : electric –Vertical Takeoff & Landing Vehicle: Drastic reduction in battery prices and other e-drivetrain components coupled with engineering expertise gained from mainstreaming of recreational drones, made the flying cars not only a technical possibility but also financially viable. e-VTOLs has the potential to significantly reduce the congestion in urban roads where cars despite transporting fewer people are occupying the majority of physical space. e-VTOLs solve the problem by taking advantage of the 3D space around the cities. The challenges are in creation of standards and safety protocols which no government in the world are equipped with yet. Uber estimates a journey from Gurgaon to Connaught Place in Delhi, which usually takes 1.40 Hrs by car will take only 6 mins in a e-VTOL with almost the same cost in long-term.

Indian government agencies like NITI Aayog are keeping abreast of the technology and market developments in future new energy mobility space through wide consultations and literature research. As the Indian government’s premier think tank, NITI Aayog will always strive to think ahead and support the federal and state government’s ability to develop, adopt and stay ahead of the curve in green mobility.

*** This article is intended to inform decision-makers in the public, private and third sectors. The views of writers are personal and it does not represent the views of either the Govt. of India or NITI Aayog. They are intended to stimulate healthy debate and deliberation in Urban Transport sector. The data are taken from published source, such as Economic Survey 2019, Union Budget 2019 and NITI Aayog reports.

Inland Water Transport in India: Can we think it to be more Sustainable, Green and Connected?

Shravani Sharma Project Associate WRI India

Dr. Praveen Kumar Senior Manager WRI India

In India, almost all the metro cities are struggling with issues such as congestions, emissions from vehicles, air pollution, etc. These problems are resulting in much bigger problems like poor health conditions, negative impact on the productivity of the human resource, etc. Even in tier II and tier III cities, the above problems are emerging as a major issue. Another major challenge is climate variability and flood disasters. Every year, several parts of India face disruption in road and rail network due to flood. For example, in Assam, the road and rail networks get disrupted due to flood water in the Brahmaputra river. Other cities on the bank of big rivers such as Ganga and Yamuna also face a similar problem of riverine flooding. In the case of coastal cities, cyclonic storms, tsunamis, tidal inundation and riverine flood create huge disruption on road and rail network, which takes a long time and huge investment to re-build. When we talk about transportation in a city, the first thing that comes to our mind is road transport. We always try to solve the issue of congestion by widening or construction of road, building flyovers, diversion, etc. To address the air quality issue, we are pushing for the cleaner mode of transport like electric vehicles. But we always forget that topography is one of the important factors in making robust planning of transport network in the city or state. It is important to understand the physical environment includes elements of the natural environment such as climate and topographical features, including water features of harbours, bays and rivers and land features of peninsulas, ridges, slopes, and elevations. We should always remember that “One size does not fit all” while doing the planning for public transport in cities.

One such mode of transport that is often forgotten when bettering the public transport in a city in the Inland Water Transport System (IWT), which is one of the most common modes of transport for the residents of cities in Assam, Kerala, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, etc. IWT is not only fuel-efficient, environment-friendly and cost-effective mode of transport, but it also has the potential to ease the pressure on the existing rail and road network in some geographical locations in India.

Till the early part of the 20th century, IWT was an important mode oftransport and widely used for trade and commerce. The advent of railways and extension of its network made a dent in share of water transport in India. Rapid growth ofroads, coupled with inadequate development of IWT sector over the years gave a decisive set back to IWT and in the later years of 20th century, except in a few areas namely, Assam, Goa, Kerala, Mumbai, West Bengal, and some other coastal areas (where it has natural advantage and no developmental intervention was needed), the IWT sector was marginalized. However, considering its inherent advantages, the need for systematic development of IWT sector was always felt which is evident from the fact that since independence, several committees studied IWT system of the country from time to time and advocated systematic development of this transport mode. National Transport Policy Committee in its report (1980) accordingly recommended for setting up of an authority for development and regulation of inland waterways, which led to the formation ofInland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) in 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways. Currently, the navigable inland waterways are approximately 14,500 km, and it caters less than 0.5% of India`s freight traffic.

Advantages of Inland Water Transport

The distance travelled using the ferry is much less than what the distance would be via any preferred mode by roadways,

subject to geographical areas although. For example, it takes around one hour to reach the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati from Panbazar via road on a regular day. In ferries, it takes only 20-30 minutes for the same. This not only saves up travel time, as when the journey is made via ferries, but it also helps in reducing congestion on the roads.

The occupancy ratio is also quite significant as compared to those of singleoccupancy cars or two-wheelers. If the commuters choose to take ferries as their preferred mode of transport, the cars on the road will go significantly low and hence are the reductions. If cities had a great ferry service, provided there is well first and last-mile connectivity, it could bring down the vehicle ownerships down to a great extent. This would also mean that other problems, such as on-street parking, bottlenecks due to such parking, etc could come down as well. When comparing the total trip length along with the trip costs, going from an origin to a destination, it seems that the cost for travelling in a ferry is significantly lower than any other mode of travel with any fuel type such as diesel, petrol or Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). In the longer run, it is much more sustainable as it has quite a low maintenance cost as well. It also does not require much infrastructure investments, but only the modifications ofthe existing ferry jetties.

Advantage of using electric boats than diesel-powered boats

As high oil import dependence and air pollution due to usage of fossil fuel are among major motivation behind the electrification of road transport in India, it is important to promote electric motorpowered boats instead of diesel-powered boats. Electric boats also have very less maintenance and operational costs as electric motors don’t need regular fuel or oil for their operations. It is also much like electric cars or buses, as they have fewer moving parts than conventional ones. As per the report of Stephens Waring, it is established that the electric powered boats are cost-effective than diesel boats, the analysis was based on the test conducted for both electric boats and diesel boats for 1000 miles. The bottom line for diesel boat was 657 dollars whereas it was 360 dollars for electric boats.

Figure 1. Distance from point A to B via road transport, Guwahati, Assam

friendly, easy to maintain, and quite efficient in performance. The installed solar panels can produce 80% of their potential energy and even on very cloudy days they can give as much as 25% output. They are also flexible as their sizes could be modified as per the energy requirements. The solar-powered electric boat is not something new, it came up in 2007 by some Swiss sailors who piloted boat called the “sun21” using solar panels only, which crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The goal of this project was to combat climate change and to encourage more use ofrenewable energy sources.

This “sun21” was a 45.9 ft longboat with a roof of 48 silicon photovoltaic cells. The device was able to transmit 3600 pounds ofstorage batteries and the 11-ton solar boat was able to provide power as much as required to light ten 100-watt light bulbs and had a speed of3.5 knots.

Water Transportin Assam

In Assam, IWT was established in the year 1958. The Directorate of IWT has slowly developed as a full-fledged Directorate under the administrative control of the Transport Department, Govt. of Assam. In 1968, the shift in administrative control ofsix ferry services operating in the river Brahmaputra from the state Public Works Department (PWD) to Directorate of IWT was the first major expansion activity. Also, the wooden country boats which were used in the services were now replaced with the power vessels. The IWT Assam offers services such as Ferry Services, Cargo Services, and River Cruises.

Assam has 15 National Waterways (NW), and the IWT Assam has nearly 10% of the cumulative navigable length of all 111 NWs in India, and it caters to about 4% of the total freight movement in the state. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has also enabled 24-hour navigation facilities from Dhubri up to Dibrugarh. The government of Assam has identified Silghat, Pandu, Karimganj and Dhubri as an immigration checkpoint. Now, these already existing places have a lot of potential for river taxis, port townships, development of IWT Terminals, and unimaginable opportunities for urban design projects such as riverfront developments and hence attract more and more revenue. The total revenue generated for the year 2017-2018 was around 195 crores and carried 48 lakh passengers, 9 lakh units of motor vehicles, 3 lakh units of goods along with many bicycles and animals etc.

Although the government of Assam has taken several initiatives to expand its Inland Water Transport System, it is still highly underutilized sector. There is massive scope for riverside developments which can be used as public urban squares. It is important to establish an inter-state

The boat also has 50kWh Li-ion battery pack weighing around 700 kg. The boat can reach speeds up to 7.5 knots/hr with normal operating speed is 5.5 knots (10 km/h) to cover a 15 minutes travel time between Vaikom and Thavanakkadavu, a distance of2.5 km on water.

Kerala has already demonstrated the viability of solar-powered boats, they need to scale this and create the necessary infrastructure for proper integration of the water transport with road or rail transport network via convenient and safe exchange point and last and first-mile connectivity.

collaboration, particularly in the northeastern states so that one can learn from each other and implement the best and the most cost-effective ideas. The IWT system in the state could act as a great example and hence it could be scalable, feasible and replicable for the rest of northeast India wherever the IWT systems exist currently. Water Transportin Kerala Kerala has more than 1680 km of inland waterways and navigable canals, and this network of water transport can cater to the movement of both passengers and freight traffic at low cost. Currently, the waterways in Kerala are highly underutilized (~20%) due to the various reasons which include lack of maintenance, competition from road and rail network. Kerala has 41 west-flowing rivers, 3 east-flowing rivers and a large network of the backwater. The west coast canal connects Hosdurg in the north to Poovar in the south of Kerala. With the help of feeder canals and cross canals, a low cost and efficient network of inland water transport can be developed in Kerala. Earlier, water transport was the predominant mode of transport for the passenger and freight movement in the area like Vembanad Lake, Vypeen and Cochin. With the improved road connectivity and bridge construction, the focus shifted from water transport to other modes in these cities. After flood disaster in 2018, the Government of Kerala under Rebuild Kerala initiative is working towards strengthening and connecting the water transport with road and rail network. In Kochi, the government is working on the water metro project which will be feeder service for the Kochi Metro Rail. Another important initiative includes electrification of the road and water transport in Kerala. Besides, India’s first solar-powered ferry ‘Aditya’ was successfully launched in Vembanad Lake in Kochi in November 2016, which was a landmark occasion in India’s journey towards the use of solar energy. With a seating capacity of 75, Aditya is the largest solar-powered boat in India. The Ferry is 20-metre-long and 3.7-Meter-high with a 7-meter beam. The fibreglass made boat has 78 solar panels are fixed on the roof connected with two electric motors of 20kW, one in each hull. Conclusion and Way forward

An integrated network of road, rail and inland waterways can help in the development of Resilient Transportation System (RTS) in India. Interchange convenience, travel comfort, use of superior technology is key to the success of road and water interconnected network. It is high time for India to look forward to more progressive policies in terms of advancement and inclusiveness of new forms of technology and all modes of transportation. It needs to be a seamless, integrated, clean and safe commute for all.

It needs to be a seamless, integrated, clean and safe commute for all. Following are the few key enabling steps for the efficient IWT ecosystem in India: • A holistic approach is required, to ensure efficient integration of IWT with road and rail transport network • Introduce enabling policy and regulation at the national and state level • Institutional coordination needs to be enhanced • Inter-state collaborations, so that one can learn from each other and implement the best and the most cost-effective ideas. • Develop a plan for necessary basic infrastructure to support IWT • Create awareness to develop the whole ecosystem, which includes manufacturing • Promote electric and solar-powered boats, at IWT routes • Improve first and last-mile connectivity along with interchange convenience • Use a technology-enabled platform like IoT, and keep safety on top priority • A strategy must include steps to minimize negative impact on the biodiversity due to IWT implementation.