EVs Top The Agenda As Auto Industry Huddles For Sustainable Mobility

Electric vehicles dominated the discussions on strategies to decarbonise India's auto industry at the 63rd annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Both the industry and the government emphasised the need for a greater push towards vehicles with lower emissions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his message to the convention, wrote, "Today, we have vehicles running on multiple alternative technologies like ethanol, flex-fuel, CNG, bio-CNG, hybrid electric, electric, and hydrogen. There is a need to continue and enhance such concerted efforts for reducing both carbon emissions and our country's dependence on oil imports."

Electric vehicles emerged as the frontrunner among these options to drive the automotive industry's contribution to India's emission reduction goals. The country aims to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45% till 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2070.

Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari expressed his ambition to position India as a leading global automobile market. To achieve this goal, government officials said the sector should secure the top position in the electric vehicle market.

"Given the ever-increasing incentives being provided by the government of India for EVs, compared to the phasing down of incentives in China, the U.K., and Europe, Indian companies should now become global leaders in electric," Kamran Rizvi, secretary at the Ministry of Heavy Industries, said.

In FY23, electric vehicles accounted for approximately 1% of the passenger vehicle market, while electric two-wheelers saw higher penetration at nearly 5%. The government expects this to increase to 30% for private cars and 80% for two-wheelers by 2030.

The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., expects 15% of its overall sales to come from EVs, 25% from hybrids, and 60% from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles, which will utilise alternate fuels such as compressed natural gas, biogas, flex-fuels, and ethanol-blended fuels by FY31.

Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer-marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki, said the country may see an accelerated pace of EV adoption from 2025 onwards. "A sharp uptick in EV adoption has been witnessed in various countries when the industry sales reach 3-4% penetration. That level should come around 2025 in our country," he said.

He also mentioned this as the reason why the company's first EV, based on the concept car eVX, will be launched in 2025 in the mid-sized SUV segment.