With Petrol/Diesel prices crossing the redline mark of INR 100/Liter, its not just the Go Green things in mind that making Indian consumer look forward to alternative fuel run car's but now the actual reason is to reduce their per km everyday running cost.
Everyone is trying to explore pure EV's or Battery EV's(BEV) to find which can be the best for them. Currently in India market we do not have much choice but to buy a TATA Nexon EV (India's best selling EV) if the budget is < 20Lac, as it starts from 14lac onwards only. Which is still double the cost of its petrol version that starts around 7lac, and will mean that you have to drive it for 75,000Km plus in next 4 years (before you change it for a new car, assuming petrol version will have a running cost of Rs.10/km against EV running cost of Rs.1/km) to cover this cost difference. All other EV's are point blank more than 2X cost of their of the Petrol/Diesel counterparts(if they exist) and are beyond 20lac budget (more of big hatch's calling themselves Electric SUV's) and you may not even cover the cost difference with the mileage benefits even if we drive it for 100,000km in next 5years.
Looking at the current charging infrastructure, warm & humid climate conditions - where no one can drive w/o AC or stay in open to charge the car at public charging stations without AC almost 9 months in a year, these EV's can be used only for your daily city run and you need to keep another car for weekend long drives or outstation trips, so that you are not stuck with range anxiety and spoil your family time searching for public chargers. I feel that its not the right time to jump on pure EV's till we have the mainstream Electric cars with around 750km range, well developed charging infrastructure in the budget range of 10% - 20% above the top end petrol/diesel model of the same car available to buy in the India market (which I expect will be by 2030).
Another option that we have, is still very limited numbers in India is strong hybrids / HEV's, till now it was only Toyota Camry and Lexus range which was starting round 50Lac on road, but Honda changed it recently with the launch of their 5th Gen Honda City e:HEV in India just within 20Lac price bracket. This car with innovative drive technology uses 1.5L Atkinson cycle OHC i-VTEC petrol engine and dual electric motor e-CVT (a small generator motor to charge Lithium ion battery pack and bigger drive motor) with 8 years warranty on battery, outstanding mileage numbers of 26km/l and exhilarating torque of 253Nm, it promises to get our per km running cost to around Rs.5/- per km - which is good thou still higher than Rs.1/- per km cost of EV's
Toyota & Suzuki are preparing to get more Strong HEV's in India with their upcoming compact SUV lineup, it would be great for India market if they get it with hyper-fuel-efficient small-displacement petrol Atkinson cycle engines a three-cylinder 1.0-liter or four-cylinder 1.3-liter along with dual motor hybrid drive setup, and target mileage number of around 50km/l plus reducing the running cost to Rs.2/- per km within 20Lac budget like Honda City e:HEV it will surely hit the Indian customers and generate a very good sales number for them (Toyota/Suzuki/Honda please hear the voice of Indian consumer and get your most fuel efficient HEV's to India market within everyone's budget).
Next is the PHEV segment of plug-in hybrid vehicles, these can really rule India market for the next decade or so, if the car manufactures get their right PHEV products to India market at the right price point. Most of us, living in metro's may be driving our car's around 50km everyday on an average and if we get PHEV's in India market with pure EV range of 50km-70km before the petrol engine kick's in it will be a win-win for both the city pollution level and we get the running cost almost same as the EV's - Rs.1/km for all city run. (With small engine & smaller battery its sure to cost lower than EV's and close to top end models of bigger engine version of the same car). Added advantage will be that we can use the same car on weekend drives or outstation trips without any range anxiety as we have the petrol/diesel engine as backup. We currently have only Volvo XC90 recharge, a PHEV in India market with pure EV range of 40-50km which is good for daily city use, weekend long drives or outstation run but it is around INR 1Cr in cost which is a blocker/show stopper for many who wish to buy it. Volvo should try out XC40 recharge (PHEV) in < INR 40lac segment with a small battery pack an a smaller petrol/diesel engine and it may get the required numbers to breakeven and also get XC30 / XC20 recharge tear down models in < 30Lac and <20Lac segment as these products will have the potential to become mass market products in India car market.
Looking at the charging infrastructure in India market and needs of the car buyers, all global manufactures like Toyota, Suzuki, Honda, Volvo and others should try to get their leading PHEV's with smaller petrol/diesel engines coupled with electric motors (to give more power on demand) along with small battery that give a pure EV range of 50km plus and mileage of 100km/l plus, which can be simply charged on any home electric 220V 5Amp socket in few hours overnight (no need of fast chargers) in INR20Lac Budget range. Like Toyota RAV4 PHV plug-in hybrid car in Europe that cracked the magic 100 km/l efficiency mark (1.0 liter/100 km) in WLTP.
