India Electric Vehicle Industry Workforce
During the COP 26 Glasgow summit, India committed to become a net zero emissions economy by 2070. The initiative has laid the path for accelerated developments in the renewable energy sector in India. India aims to meet 50% of the electrical demand from renewable energy sources by 2030 contributing positively towards the fight against climate change.
India announced an investment of $ 4.3 billion in the clean energy space for the year 2023. Major investment will be infused in developing energy efficient physical infrastructures, mitigating carbon emission in transportation, promoting electric mobility and battery swapping solutions, sustainable alternative energy carriers, like biomass and green hydrogen. Electric mobility is one such area of interest which has shown tremendous annual growth of 49%. With the recent identification of over 5.9 million tons of untapped lithium reserve the electric mobility industry is looking to capitalize the growth faster.
The rapid growth in the Indian EV industry has led Indian companies to intensively pursue areas, such as research and development in determining range in vehicles, maintenance of robust charging infrastructure, maintaining sustainable supply chain of electronic components and upgrading and maintaining safety aspects in the EV vehicles. To successfully achieve the growth targets and meet the rising demands, Indian EV players will require efficient manpower to drive the sector. According to Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA), Ernst & Young and Induslaw report, the Indian EV industry will create 10 million direct and 50 million indirect jobs by 2030. The rapid growth in the sector has resulted in a vacuum for skilled resources especially with software, hardware and mechanical skillsets.
For the Indian EV industry to grow to its full potential will require skilled human resource with capabilities to innovate and think critically. Technical roles in research and development, manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, electronics, energy storage and IT will play a pertinent part in job creation within the industry. U.S. educational institutes can pursue this opportunity to engage and collaborate with Indian institutions to bridge the skill gap.
U.S. universities have strong expertise gained from industry advancements and continued advance R&D in various engineering domains which are directly associated with the EV sector. Indian institutes by partnering with U.S. universities can introduce programs specific to the Indian industry needs for skilling the required resources. Some of the prospective areas of opportunities for U.S. universities are:
- Developing industry-oriented curriculum
- Joint semester programs for undergraduate students
- Live classroom and online sessions with U.S. faculties
- Industry partnerships: Learning and development program for new hires
- Access to potential student pool for higher education programs in engineering, technology and research in the U.S.
U.S. universities can leverage this opportunity to explore new dimensional partnership with EV companies and educational institutes to upskill resources.
U.S. universities willing to explore partnership opportunities with Indian industry players and educational institutions can reach out to your nearest U.S. Commercial Service office or the education team at the U.S. Commercial Service in India.