NITI Aayog releases the draft battery swapping policy

NITI Aayog has released its draft battery swapping policy. The policy aims to support the vision of catalysing the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by promoting the adoption of battery swapping technology, im­ple­mented via a battery-as-a-service business model. The policy stipulates the minimum technical and operational requirements that the battery swapping ecosystem would need, highlights the possible ways to provide direct and indirect financial support to battery providers and EV users, and lays down an institutional framework to facilitate on-ground implementation of the required battery swapping infrastructure, among other measures. The target vehicle segments for battery swapping are electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers. The roll-out of battery swapping stations will be in a phased manner. All metropolitan cities with a population greater than 4 million will be prioritised for the development of battery swapping networks under the first phase, while all major cities such as state capitals, union territory (UT) headquarters and cities with a population greater than 0.5 million will be covered under the second phase. The comments have been sought by June 5, 2022.