EV car makers rev up for 2025; slew of new models expected to hit the road

Come 2025, the slugfest for India’s nascent electric passenger vehicle market will intensify. Over a dozen electric models, including pure electric cars or “born electric” models from Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Suzuki Motor Corp’s first electric offering, are expected to go on sale.

The plans come amid the government’s aim to have electric vehicle (EV) sales accounting for 30 per cent for private cars by 2030.

In many ways, the year will mark an inflection point for a market that has so far seen the EV goals being realised on two wheels, not four. Also, the proposed entry of automakers like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, among others in the segment, with their “mass-market EVs” is set to intensify competition.  

As of now, in the mass segment, Tata Motors, with its models such as the e-Nexon and the e-Tigor, is driving the market almost single-handedly. Most of the other models address the premium end of the market.

Tata Motors took the wraps off its first pure electric car, the Avinya Concept. Based on the firm’s third-generation architecture, the Avinya will be the basis for a number of new EVs from the automaker. The model is expected to go on sale by 2025.

Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, the company’s EV subsidiary, which announced the takeover of Ford’s Sanand plant last week, has a plan to increase EV volumes over four times — from 19,000 units in FY22 to 80,000 units by the turn of the current financial year. It looks to have EVs accounting for more than 30 per cent of its private vehicle sales by 2030.

Ravi Bhatia, president and director, JATO Dynamics, a global supplier of automotive business data, said that while the market for e-passenger vehicles will still be in low single digits by 2025, somewhere close to 8 per cent of the overall passenger vehicle market, those on a lookout for a competitively priced battery-powered car or SUV will have more choice.
 

“The shift to electric in private vehicles will be gradual,” said Bhatia. Global supply chain issues, including the semiconductor shortage, and cost inflation mean that manufacturers will find it tough to drive down costs and bring a model that is priced below Rs 10 lakh, he said.

Amid the need to be ESG (environment, society, governance) compliant and do more than just putting the “foot in the door,” one will see every other automaker entering the space, said Rahul Mishra, partner, Kearney, a global management consulting firm.

“The commodity inflation and supply chain headwinds are likely to continue in the near term and this will mount pressure on companies and restrict them from bringing mass EV models priced below Rs 10 lakh,” said Mishra.

Mahindra & Mahindra, which was the first to enter the market with Reva, is all set to re-enter the space after re-crafting the EV strategy in the personal segment.

Using the cricket analogy with regards to the company’s plans in the e-passenger vehicles, Anish Shah, managing director and CEO, Mahindra Group, said the automaker is currently in the first few overs of a Test match and that the Reva was like a “practice match” before the Test.

“There is a long way to go. We will have a very strong range of electric SUVs that we will bring in. We are confident that we will have a very strong position in electric,” he said at the company’s annual press meet on May 30.

The same day the company also said it would reveal its “Born EV Vision” on August 15 at Mahindra Design Europe in the UK.  As part of this, three of its upcoming pure electric concepts are set to break cover. The first among these will go on sale in 2025.

Meanwhile, it would be launching an electrified version of the XUV300 in the first half of 2023.  

These are among some of the EV models that M&M plans to introduce as part of its overall EV strategy as it seeks to reign supreme in India’s nascent market where Tata Motors leads with a lion’s share. Shah expects EVs to account for half of the total private vehicle market by the end of this decade. But analysts are a lot more conservative in their forecasts.

Nomura Research expects EVs to account for 15 per cent of the private vehicle market by 2030. “The sweet spot is sub Rs 1 million. If OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) can craft it, it is a jackpot,” said Harshvardhan Sharma, head — auto retail practice at Nomura Research.

The country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, will launch multiple electric vehicles models in India as it seeks to catch up with rivals and become a leader in the segment, the company’s newly appointed Managing Director and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said in April.

The company, which plans to launch its first EV model in 2025, also intends to produce EVs from its factories in the future when the demand for these cars picks up in the country. The first EV will be rolled out from Suzuki Motors Gujarat plant. In March this year, Suzuki Motor Corp announced fresh investments of Rs 10,440 crore to manufacture electric vehicles and batteries in Gujarat.

Korean carmaker Hyundai that sells the Kona electric sedan, too, is looking to ride the EV wave. In December, it said it would invest Rs 4,000 crore to launch six battery electric vehicles by 2028. These EVs will span different segments like mass market and mass premium and will include varied body types. One among these will be a mass-market EV expected before the end of 2024 and will be built locally using an existing internal combustion engine-powered platform.