Assessing the adaptability of EVS

Abstract

Climate change has become a primary concern in recent years and gained a lot of attention worldwide. The Green House Gases (GHGs) are responsible for climate change, among which particularly CO2 has had a significant effect on the environment. Among all the sectors which are contributing to the global CO2 emissions, the transport sector accounts to 22% as of 2022. In order to achieve a cleaner transportation sector, a shift towards cleaner fuels and technology is necessary which encourages a paradigm shift towards electric mobility. In India, there is approximately around 2-3% of EV penetration had happened till 2022 which highlights the fact that there are issues pertaining to adaptability of EVs. The passenger vehicles (including 2W and 4W) account to approximately 40% of the global CO2 emissions by all transport modes. Hence, the study only focuses on the 2W and 4W passenger vehicles. The research objective is to identify and promote the variables concerning the adaptability of electric vehicles. To achieve this objective, the factors concerning the adaptability have been identified from the literature and are divided into four heads namely Technological characteristics, Socio-economic characteristics, Travel Pattern and User challenges. Then, the EV user survey and operator survey have been performed for the identified study area to assess the impact of these factors. The EV user survey follows a random sampling technique as the penetration levels are low. Operator survey have been carried out to know the strategies for placement of public charging stations and the charging fare details. The study area selected for this research is Visakhapatnam as it is the pilot city for the implementation of all the initiatives under the Andhra Pradesh state EV policy. All the stakeholders of electric mobility have been identified and mapped starting from local level to national level. From the primary survey, it has been identified that 56% of the EV users who have access to workplace charging facilities have never used public charging facilities. Also, 65% of the EV users had to take additional route to access the public charging facilities which implies the absence of spatial distribution of public charging facilities. Spatial analysis using GIS tool has been carried out to check the credibility of the data related to existing infrastructure location The findings of the research suggest the three main issues which are hindering the adaptability are the absence of workplace charging, uneven distribution of charging facilities spatially and absence of common platform to access the charging facilities. The strategies to minimize the gaps include preparation of charging infrastructure plan at city level which acts as a guiding document for the implementation of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles – II (FAME-II) charging infrastructure, amending building bye laws in order to mandate the workplace charging, and creation of an integrated platform to access the charging infrastructure. The study will further help in modifying the existing electric mobility framework and assign new tasks to the stakeholders duly specifying the role in addressing the identified issues.