The use of electric vehicles has grown rapidly in recent years to account for 2 percent of India’s annual sales of 4.2 million cars. | File photo
India’s top electric vehicle maker Tata Motors is luring consumers with free charging and deep discounts, while rival MG Motor has launched its first battery leasing scheme, in moves aimed at boosting sales of clean cars.
Electric vehicle (EV) use has grown rapidly in recent years to account for 2 percent of India’s annual car sales of 4.2 million, but sales growth is now faltering, which analysts attribute to high prices and lack of charging facilities.
“We want to make electric vehicles affordable,” Satinder Singh Bajwa, chief commercial officer of MG Motor, said at an event to launch the firm’s new electric vehicle with battery rental service, the first of its kind in the world.
“You are paying for battery usage like you pay for fuel,” Bajwa added, as the firm, a joint venture of India’s JSW Group and China’s SAIC, tries to make one of the most expensive components of cars affordable for buyers.
The “Battery as a Service” plan will effectively cost 3.5 rupees (4 US cents) per kilometer, although customers will have to pay a minimum monthly charge of 1,500 km (932 miles) to ensure a low initial acquisition cost.
That kind of effort is sorely needed.
For example, India’s largest EV maker, Tata Motors, sold just 4,086 EVs in August, down nearly 15 percent from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive month of annual decline in the world’s third-largest auto market.
To capitalize on the festive season, when consumers ramp up shopping, Tata said this week it was cutting prices by 10 to 20 percent on its Punch and Nexon models, while offering six months of free charging at 5,500 stations operated by its power unit.
The price cuts and other offers were a “step toward making electric vehicles more mainstream and accelerating their adoption,” the company said in a statement.
Specifically, they are raising the cost of their best-selling Nexon to around $15,000, on par with its petrol or diesel variants.
Indians prefer petrol and diesel vehicles as charging stations are few and far between, despite the government’s initiative to boost sales of clean cars.
While sales of electric scooters have soared, driven by high demand from e-commerce companies, annual sales of electric cars still stand at less than 100,000.
That hasn’t deterred brands like MG Motor, BYD, BMW and Mercedes-Benz from launching their own versions, many of them priced to appeal to India’s growing number of rich and wealthy.
MG Motor is looking to attract more buyers with the launch this week of its Windsor EV, priced at Rs 999,000 ($11,900). Features include a panoramic glass roof, reclining rear seats, six airbags and free charging at many stations for a year.
First published: September 12, 2024 | 14:27 IS
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