Electric
car not good for India..!?
While the
indian automobile
industry is changing as a whole, as the demand for electric cars has started to increase among the people, all the automobile companies have started manufacturing electric cars. But most of the batteries and their
raw materials are imported from abroad. Speaking at the 50th National Management Conference organized by the All
india Management Association (AIMA), the Chairman of
maruti Suzuki R.C. Bhargava advocated against electric
vehicles in India. Many were shocked by this. Unless at least 50% of India's total
electricity consumption is generated from renewable sources, electric
vehicles will not be environmentally friendly in
india, Bhargava said. Therefore, instead of electric
vehicles,
indian automobile companies can focus on developing hybrid fuel
cng gas powered
vehicles and green fuel ethanol and hydrogen gas powered vehicles.
R.C. Bhargava attributes this to the fact that 75 percent of the
electricity generated in
india is generated from coal. Then how can electric
vehicles reduce carbon footprint? This will not be possible unless the use of coal-fired power is reduced, he said. He said that hybrid
vehicles will be the right choice for the
indian automobile market until the complete replacement of
electricity sources in
india, i.e. until excess
electricity is produced by renewable energy.
In fact, while Tata,
mahindra and
hyundai have started manufacturing 100 percent electric cars,
maruti Suzuki,
toyota and
honda have yet to manufacture fully electric cars in India. Also,
maruti Suzuki and
toyota have recently joined forces to produce hybrid electric cars. Similarly,
maruti Suzuki believes that electric cars are not priced right for India's
mass marketing market. This is why there is great reluctance to make fully electric cars.