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By reaching 60% battery, electric and plug-in hybrid EVs can act as important source/sink for the variable
vehicles (electric and internal combustion engine) on renewable energy sources. Introducing EV in a grid
the road, more than 60 billion tons of CO could be could lead to congestion in distribution lines and
2
saved between now and 2050 . transformer overloading. However, these can be
6
mitigated by resorting to their integration with
IRENA analysis shows that EVs have significant growth distributed renewable energy sources.
potential:
Renewable integration with EV is more relevant in
The number of electric passenger cars could the case of distributed generation, where EV, along
increase from 2 million in 2016 to 200 million in with the distributed generation together contribute
2030. to meeting the load demand and variations over the
day. Since EVs are not only consuming power (Grid to
Electric two/three-wheeled vehicles could Vehicle, G-V), they are also capable of supplying power
outnumber four-wheeled vehicles, with as many as
900 million on the roads by 2030. to the grid (Vehicle to Grid, V-G) through their batteries
and hence play an active role in grid management .
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Electric buses/ light-duty vehicles could exceed 10 As power generated from renewable sources are not
million by 2030 8 dispatchable on their own, in conjunction with EV, they
together participate in better grid control. Hence EV
and distributed renewable generation can be seen as
In 2017, Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) governments complementing each other.
launched the EV30@30 campaign to speed up electric
vehicles’ deployment and target at least 30 per cent
new electric vehicle sales by 2030 7
Way Forward
There are studies which state that EV adoption in
China could increase the smog generation by three to Though there can be regional / country-specific
five times as compared to fossil-fuel driven vehicles challenges, some of the common factors that can
primarily because of its dependence on fossil support increased renewable penetration are:
fuel-based generation . This is true in many other
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countries, including India, where around 61.8% of Commitment from countries towards net-zero
installed capacity (as of November 30, 2020) is from emissions
fossil fuel-based generation . The power required for Investments
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EV charging should be derived from renewable sources
to the maximum possible extent as fossil fuels will Adoption of sustainable policy by corporations/
defeat the whole objective of carbon-free mobility. organisations

However, with India poised to surpass it’s Renewable Supportive government policies to attract
Energy (RE) target of 175 GW by 2022, more renewable investment
energy penetration is expected.
Power system flexibility
EVs can be considered as flexible energy demand Transmission corridor availability
that can be powered by renewable sources such as
solar and wind as their charging can be aligned with Supportive cutting-edge technologies
the availability of the sources. Some utilities in the US
offer customers incentives for adopting EV charging at Widespread adoption of energy storage solutions
stipulated time of the day when Solar / Wind resources
are available. 10

8 IRENA https://www.irena.org/transport/Electric-Vehicles 11 Electric vehicles integrated with Renewable Energy sources for Sustainable mobility
9 World Resources Institute https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/11/4-emerging-ways- by Michela Longo, Federica Foiadelli and Wahiba Yaici
pair-electric-vehicles-and-renewable-energy#:~:text=EV%20charging%20can%20be%20
paired,with%20or%20without%20managed%20charging
10 Ministry of Power website https://powermin.nic.in/en/content/power-sector-glance-
all-india
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