The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in India is in its nascent stage. With sales accounting for less than 0.27% of the total cars sold in 2010, the adoption and potential for the vehicles in the country is undeniable, given anxieties around energy independence, high cost of imported fuel and the ability to increase the availability of power through the grid by multiple sources like coal, renewable sources, gas and nuclear power, said Deloittee in its study on ?Gaining traction: Will consumers ride the electric vehicle wave?? released on Wednesday.
Kumar Kandaswami, manufacturing industry leader, Deloitte in India, said: ?A third of Indian customers expect to purchase the EV around R4 lakh and another third willing to go up to R7 lakh. This would correspond to the prices they would pay for their conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. Clearly, there is an unwillingness to pay a premium for clean technology, as is found to be the case in most markets.?
The realities that can influence the pace of adoption are the price of fuel and fuel efficiency of the ICE vehicles. A little over 70% of the respondents felt they would consider an EV if the fuel price crosses R85 a litre. Conversely, 74% of the respondents are less likely to consider buying an EV if the ICE cars were to deliver 32 kilometres per litre of fuel, Kumaraswami said.
The distinctive styling and improving speed, torque characteristics will make EV usage a satisfying experience when compared to the ICE vehicles. Further in India, the rapid rise of fuel prices and the desire to be on par with the rest of the world in terms of emission would facilitate the growth of the EV market in India, Kumaraswami said.
According to him, for the OEMs, EVs offer a great opportunity but also pose a threat, as the technology could change the contours of the industry and render large parts of the value chain that has been created over the last decades worthless.
