new delhi as ecofriendly mobility becomes the predominant narrative across the globe india which is set to become the thirdlargest automobile market by 2020 is gearing up to find the answer in electric vehicles while the government thinktank niti aayog envisages an allelectric vehicle fleet by 2030 union minister nitin gadkari has given an ultimatum to the industry to either join the bandwagon or else be bulldozed the billion dollar question is can the country do it there is no easy answer and the auto industry wants a clear policy road map to make an attempt already sulking for being forced to leapfrog to bsvi emission norms by 2020 in a short span automobile manufacturers feel the road to electric vehicles ev is fraught with speed breakers in the absence of a clear policy electric mobility is the future and we see that transition approaching this transformation to ev has to be strongly driven by a clear road map which defines the transition plan of the government with proper timelines mercedes benz india ceo and md roland folger said hyundai motor india director marketing and sales rakesh srivastava said the industry will be ready as per government direction however a clear road map with infrastructure solutions is required to help car manufacturers for future planning the industry players are of the opinion that as ev technology is evolving at a rapid pace the government needs to consider issues like charging interfaces before finalising the infrastructure there is a foreseeable risk in adopting current solutions which may not remain the technology of future folger said moreover the transition to ev will call for significant investments which will be over and above the estimated spending of around rs 1 lakh crore that the auto industry would have to make in upgrading products to comply with several upcoming regulations related to emissions safety and fuel efficiency according to a report by niti aayog and rocky mountain institute india is required to set up a minimum of 20 giga factories to produce batteries at an investment of usd 100 billion for its transition towards 100 per cent ev fleet by 2030 the report also points out that lack of clear longterm policies and technology uncertainty are hindering investments folger said while defining the future of mobility we shouldnt adopt an either or approach rather we advocate the coexistence of existing and future technologies the auto industry is unanimous that the gap for electric vehicles must be bridged by intermediate technology such as hybrid vehicles to support building charging infrastructure and reduce range anxiety of customers while we applaud the governments initiative to promote electric vehicles it must be appreciated that encouragement of strong hybrid vehicles will eventually be the stepping stone for faster adoption of pure electric vehicles toyota kirloskar motor vicechairman shekar viswanathan said folger said plugin hybrids have to be considered in the transition plan as these will not only offer 100 per cent electric mobility for a considerable number of kilometres