Rahil Ansari, Head, Audi India
By definition, smart cities are cities that imbue core infrastructure and provide a good quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment with the aid of ‘Smart’ solutions. Urban areas are expected to house 40 per cent of India’s population and contribute to 75 per cent of India’s GDP by 2030, and this data has prompted the Indian government to undertake the “Smart Cities Mission” in India.
The Indian government plans to achieve this mission via a hand-in-hand approach with digital and information technologies, urban planning best practices, public-private partnerships, and policy changes – all with a view to make a difference for the better. The emphasis on India to drive on electric vehicles by 2030 with renewable energy sources sets a definitive direction. The Indian government has proactively announced reduction of the customs duty on imported electric vehicles in completely knocked-down or semi-knocked down state, to 10-15 per cent from 15-30 per cent.
This will contribute towards a cleaner environment by making greener vehicles more affordable. We are committed to this safe and healthy India vision of the Indian government.
The Indian government has outlined a plan to support the expansion of electric vehicles in the country. The push for electric mobility charging stations will first be rolled out in cities with a population greater than 4 million residents, that is Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat and Pune. The mission begins with a target to develop over a hundred cities throughout India, making them sustainable as well as citizen-friendly.
The state governments are taking several initiatives for proper implementation of electric vehicles. The Andhra Pradesh government has announced its extensive electric vehicle policy: to put 10 lakh electric vehicles on the road in the next 5 years and by 2024, stop registration of diesel and petrol cars in the state. The Kerala government’s move to lay down a proper roadmap for electric vehicles in Kerala is a welcome move as electric mobility transition needs to be backed by adequate and robust infrastructure for customer ease and practicality. Relaxation on road taxes for private EVs will motivate customers to go a step forward and purchase an EV. Long-term decisions like these also help the manufacturers to make planned investments for the future.
Increasing internet bandwidth and connectivity have an important part to play in India’s transformation. Cloud computing and the Internet are a necessary pre-requisite for modern transport systems. For example, cloud-connected EV fast-charging stations, among others, make it possible for travellers to easily locate the closest available charging station.
Thus, one of the key core infrastructural elements within these smart cities will be ‘Smart Mobility’. The idea behind smart mobility is to be “fast and green” providing environment-friendly and affordable technologies that are easily accessible to the masses. It is technological progress that will enable us to make the mobility and traffic planning in the smart cities more sustainable.
Audi sets its sights on solutions in which individual transportation makes a positive contribution in an overall system of different forms of mobility. Keeping in mind the changing scenario of the mobility world, Audi globally has made plans to significantly broaden the electrification roadmap across the entire model portfolio. As part of the “Audi.Vorsprung.2025.” strategy, there is going to be an electrified variant in each model series by then – most of them are to be fully electric, with a smaller proportion as plug-in hybrids.
The boundaries between mobility and immobility are disappearing. Progress means that our technologies benefit not only the automobile but also urban development. The task from now on is to plan innovations and city infrastructure together. In the Internet of Everything world, where all relevant objects are given an IP address, the future is not distant when the car will communicate with all these objects, making lives simpler and easier to plan.
Our ambitions don’t stop at the car, Audi is more. Hence, we also see the car’s surroundings as elementary. If “Vorsprung durch Technik” leads to a better experience of urban life for our customers, we will have achieved our goal
of success – that is sustainable in every way. By proactively embracing innovative solutions, India will soon occupy a place of major importance at the forefront of converting its cities and mobility to “smart” with technology.
