New Players in India's EV Space

India's electric vehicle (EV) space is witnessing a major rush of brands looking to consolidate their presence in this fast-growing segment. With EVs almost certain to disrupt the Indian automotive sector, multiple brands are coming out with new launches in various segments. While Mahindra Electric was one of the earliest companies to actually thrive in this space, it has now been joined by Tata Motors and Hyundai as well. At the same time, several companies like Ather Energy have been releasing electric bikes and scooters as well.

In a major development technology major Foxconn from Taiwan has reportedly confirmed its foray into the EV segment. It has now shown three concept models while looking to produce them not just in Europe and Brazil, but also in India, as per Liu Young-way, the chairman of the company. Foxconn has targeted provisions for offering components/services for at least 10% of the EVs in the whole world by the year 2027.

In fact, what could be really exciting for India's EV space is that Tesla Inc. is also seeking manufacturing facilities in India. It has already integrated Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd as its subsidiary entity in Bangalore. Yet, the company is getting delayed with its entry into the market owing to issues revolving around steep import duties on vehicles. Elon Musk has already stated that a local unit in India would happen once the company succeeded with imports of its vehicles while adding that taxes were excessively high on them at present.

How the EV scene in India is panning out

India is already targeting 100% electrification by the year 2030 and this makes the EV market an opportunity worth a mind-blowing $206 billion by this time. The Indian Government is also encouraging the switch towards cleaner transportation and personal mobility. Several companies like Mahindra Electric, Ola Electric, and Ather Energy are rapidly consolidating their presence in this space. The many Indian States like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are also unveiling EV blueprints to attract more investors.

Ola is already one of the country's biggest brands in the ride aggregation and shared transportation space. It has now set up Ola Electric with a mega vision and investment of a whopping INR 2,400 crore for an electric scooter manufacturing plant at Tamil Nadu. When this plant is finished, Ola Electric has stated that the plant will churn out 1 crore units annually, i.e. 15% of the total two-wheeler production volumes of the whole world.

Even Hero MotoCorp is not too far behind. India's largest bike manufacturer has already launched more than 12 EVs in the country through Hero Electric. The company has been one of the prominent names in the EV category. Revolt Intellicorp has also been established by Rahul Sharma, the co-founder at Micromax, and launched in 2019. It already has its manufacturing unit at Manesar with an annual capacity of 1.2 lakh units in total. Revolt is offering a unique electric bike with LED lights, digital instrumentation, Bluetooth and real-time diagnosis capabilities. The company is reportedly working to launch a café-racer-esque motorcycle.

At the same time, BattRE Electric is another start-up that began in Maharashtra and Gujarat back in 2019 and has 50+ dealers already in 6 Indian States. It has electric scooters like Lo: EV and IOT in the kitty along with electric cycles too. It has also launched its BattRE GpSie electric scooter model at a competitive price along with offering features like anti-theft alarms, keyless ignition, connected instrumentation technologies, and a USB charger as well.