Whilst India’s lack of charging infrastructure is said to be a hinderance for a more widespread adoption of electric vehicles in the long-haul vehicle segment such as trucks and cars, it is an increasingly consensus view that two-wheelers are going electric soon. But contrary to what we might perceive that the adoption is led by urban areas given density of population and viability of charging infrastructure, rural and small town India has been driving demand, says this piece in the Bloomberg Quint.
“As petrol and diesel prices hit record highs, pandemic-scarred Indians are searching for cheaper options. And poor public transport trumps concerns about lack of charging infrastructure and irregular power.
“It is a misnomer that the urban markets are driving EV adoption. It’s the small towns,” Naveen Munjal, managing director at Hero Electric, told BloombergQuint over a WhatsApp call. A large part of the dealer network, he said, is in tier 2 and 3 markets, he said. For Hero Electric and peers Okinawa Autotech Pvt., and Okaya Power Group, at least 65% of the sales come from smaller cities and towns, and rural India.
…Fuel is not the only reason buyers are adopting electric mobility. Petrol motorbikes and scooters have turned costlier in the past year as companies hiked prices to offset rising commodity costs. Incentives by the central government under the second phase of its Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicle and additional benefits and tax cuts by states made EVs cheaper.
…Vehicles running at 45-50 kilometres per hour are not only cheaper than internal-combustion engine equivalents but also low-speed EVs that can’t go above 25 kmph.”
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