3 factors holding back India’s EV adoption: Srivastava

Electric vehicles are the way forward to clean mobility, but it is a long way to go before India goes the electric way.

“Three factors are holding back the progress of electric vehicle adoption in India,” said Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki.

“The first is that battery technology is very expensive. It is about 55 per cent of the cost of the vehicle and this is the reason the cost of the car is also high. Secondly, there is hardly any charging infrastructure. The third factor is the range anxiety. If the heater or air-conditioner is used, the range of the car falls. The transition will happen over a period of time,” he added.

Maruti Suzuki is due to unveil the Futuro-e concept during the Auto Expo 2020 in Greater Noida. Asked what the company’s strategy would be with respect to EVs, he said: “It has to be as per the consumer requirement and there should be mass acceptance. We feel it has to be sustainable, practical and realistic.”

With the switch to the Bharat Stage-VI emission norms from April 1 this year, vehicles have become more expensive. “Apart from BS-VI, upgraded safety requirements have also led to price increase. Additionally, there has been an increase in third party insurance. And things are more sensitive when it comes to entry-level cars,” he explained.

“As far as Maruti is concerned, we tried by increasing promotions, we are in talks with banks for retail and inventory financing and our products will be 100 per cent BS-VI very soon,” he added.

He also felt that technologies like hybrid cars and vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) are more realistic at the moment before the country moves to large scale electric vehicles.

Srivastava also felt that despite challenges that led to the slowdown in the auto industry, there were some positives like cut in corporate taxes.