India’s mainstream carmakers, from Maruti Suzuki to Hyundai and Tata Motors, are seeking to democratize the electric power train in personal mobility through the introduction of one electric car a month over the next two years, breaking consumer resistance over affordability through more mass-market choices than ever before.
“The adoption of EVs in passenger vehicle segment in India has been rather slow . Currently it is only 2.2% despite the substantial GST rate advantage. There are mainly 3 reasons for this slow adoption: the high acquisition cost ( EVs are typically 1.35-1.7 times more expensive than corresponding gasoline cars ), range anxiety among potential buyers due to lack of charging infrastructure and the relatively less number of mass models in this segment. It is expected that as the battery prices come down and as more models are launched and range anxiety fades away, the adoption rate will increase”, Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer (marketing and sales) at Maruti Suzuki said, adding, “Some research shows faster adoption once penetration gets to around 5%. After this inflexion point, it is expected that EV penetration in India will each around 20% by 2030.”
