Young man charges his electric car.
Tashdique Mehtaj Ahmed | Tashdique Mehtaj Ahmed Moments | Getty Images
When Carmelita Fernandes, who lives in the Indian city of Pune, switched from a regular car to an electric Tata Nixon for the first time in December 2021, she was excited about the journey ahead. After all, she said, it was a “five-star car and sales were really soaring in India at the time.”
More than two years after the switch, Fernandez regrets his decision: “I will never buy an electric car again.”
Five months after buying it, Fernandez was driving 180 kilometers (111 miles) from Pune to Mumbai, two cities in the western state of Maharashtra, when her car battery died.
The battery of the electric SUV she bought for 1.4 million Indian rupees ($16,700) often drained faster than expected. “4India’s electric car conundrum: Investing in a car or charging station first, 0% battery should easily get me another 40km, but within 5km it drops to 0%,” said Fernandez.
“If I can’t drive four to five hours from Mumbai to Pune, I guess I won’t be able to use an electric car anywhere. It’s not possible to go to cities further away, like from Mumbai to Goa, which is about 600 kilometers away from each other in India. ,” she told CNBC.
Fernandez’s story is not unique. Analysts say “range anxiety” remains a significant barrier to drivers switching from internal combustion engine cars to electric vehicles in India.
The most populous country in the world has one 30% ambitious goal By 2030, 300 newly registered private cars will be electric. The proportion is less than 2.5%.
Partner Brajesh Chhibber said: “The charging infrastructure in the Indian EV market is not yet fully mature, but companies want more vehicles on the road before investing more. On the other hand, potential EV buyers want more charging on the road first. device.
“It’s a chicken-and-egg problem,” Chibber told CNBC.
As of August 2023, Tata Motors holds 72% of the Indian electric vehicle market, followed by MG Motor with a 10.8% share. Electric vehicles from Mahindra & Mahindra, Citroen, BYD, Hyundai and Kia account for the rest of the market, data from Canalis show.
Increase charging capacity
Industry experts told CNBC that strengthening India’s charging infrastructure is an important step that the Indian government needs to take to achieve its goal of universal electric vehicles by 2030.
India follows the United States The world’s second largest road networkspanning 6.3 million kilometers.
However, as of February, the world’s most populous country had about 12,100 public electric vehicle chargers, still far from the standard. 1.32 million chargers Needed by 2030.
But Mihir Sampat, a partner at Bain & Company in Mumbai, said charging companies are hesitant to expand infrastructure for fear of underutilizing it.
“The economics of operating a charging station fundamentally depend on how much the charger is used,” Sampat said. “Ideally, you want the charger to be used at least 15-20% of the time. To do that, the charger needs to be located Areas with dense electric vehicle populations.”
There are about 200 electric vehicles per commercial charging point in India, compared with about 20 in the United States and less than 10 in China. According to a report released by Bain last December.
Fernandes narrated how, while traveling from Mumbai to Pune, she stopped at the Kalapur toll plaza on the Mumbai-Pune highway to charge her electric car. The charger had to be ordered far in advance or she wouldn’t be able to use it in time.
“Sometimes it requires me to wait more than two hours to charge my car,” she said. “I ended up using more power and wasting the battery by looking for a charger.”
McKinsey’s Chhibber added that while the Indian government has made significant progress in increasing the number of EV chargers on highways, infrastructure for intercity use near shopping malls and office towers also needs to be strengthened.
Other factors that hinder consumer churn
A lack of charging infrastructure isn’t the only problem facing EV drivers. Analysts say high costs and a lack of vehicle variety are two other factors holding back drivers from switching from internal combustion engine cars to electric vehicles.
India’s largest carmaker Maurti Suzuki will launch its first electric vehicle model next year. Tata offers only five EV models, while MG offers two, according to the company’s website.
“Customers are delaying the switch to electric vehicles and waiting for new products and a broader product portfolio to emerge,” Chhibber said.
“India remains a very price-sensitive four-wheeler market. Companies will have to develop low-cost electric vehicles that are comparable to internal combustion engine vehicles,” Bain & Company’s Sampat said, adding that battery costs first need to be reduced.
Prices for Tata’s Punch, one of its most popular ICE SUVs, start at INR 612,900 ($7,300), compared with its electric cars starting at INR 11 Lakhs ($13,100)
