The Hyundai Ioniq 5, Citroen C3, MG Air EV, Skoda Enyaq, Tata Punch EV (and the Altroz EV in FY24), and Mahindra XUV400 have all been confirmed for calendar year 2023.
With a half-dozen confirmed electric car launches, commercial vehicle (CV) operators moving forward with electric buses and trucks, and more than two dozen electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler launches, 2023 will be a watershed year for electric mobility in India.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5, Citroen C3, MG Air EV, Skoda Enyaq, Tata Punch EV (and the Altroz EV in FY24), and Mahindra XUV400 have all been confirmed for calendar year 2023.
“I believe 2023 will be a watershed moment for electric vehicles,” Vivek Srivatsa, head of marketing, sales, and service strategy at Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, told FE.
“By 2022, monthly electric car sales had topped 5,000 units, with Tata Motors accounting for over 4,000 of those. Electric vehicle sales are predicted to be quite strong this year, thanks to the market availability of the Tiago EV (India’s most affordable electric car, priced from ‘8.49 lakh onwards).”
During the Auto Expo 2023, all CV players will showcase electrified technology, including hydrogen fuel cell electric automobiles (January 13-18). (FCEVs).
Tata Motors, which received an order for 1,500 electric buses from the Delhi Transport Corporation in December (and has a total order book of slightly more than 5,000 electric buses from state transport enterprises), will display both electric and FCEV technology at the Auto Expo. Tata Motors managing director Girish Wagh recently told FE that although battery EVs make more sense for short-distance travel (less than 500 km) — the Ace EV was released last year — FCEV is the perfect technology for CVs that need to be driven beyond 500 km. Tata Motors already has FCEV buses and will provide Indian Oil with 15 of them this year.
Switch Mobility (Ashok Leyland’s EV arm) and VECV will also deploy electric buses in 2023. Jupiter Electric Mobility, a Jupiter Wagons subsidiary, will debut two electric LCVs at the Auto Expo (a 2.2-tonne LCV and a 7-tonne LCV).
However, the largest EV onslaught will come from two-wheeler and three-wheeler start-ups, which will launch over a dozen EVs in India this year, despite automotive analysts’ cautious optimism.
“Rising Covid-19 instances in China might be a black swan event for certain Indian EV players,” one expert said on the condition of anonymity, adding that “most EV components, directly or indirectly, come from China.”
Electric vehicle players, on the other hand, are unconcerned for the time being. “Our strategies are in place,” Tarun Garg, Hyundai Motor India’s director of sales, marketing, and service, told FE of the potential interruption in the EV components supply chain.
Saket Mehra, partner and auto sector head at Grant Thornton Bharat, noted that while the barriers to EV adoption in India are narrowing — electric car sales increased 268% year on year to exceed 18,000 units in H1FY23 — the market is unlikely to see significant upheaval until 2024-25.