The forthcoming that is electric cars

Suzuki Swift plug-in hybrid

Maruti Suzuki announced its plan to manufacture Electric Vehicles (EVs) in India, in a meeting held at Gujarat between the dignitaries of India and Japan, including the Prime Ministers of both nations, by Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki. As a part of the announcement the Japanese firm will be constructing a new plant in Hansalpur, Gujarat. These would also be the first commercially available EV of the parent company Suzuki, across the globe. This development holds significance as it follows Indian governments ambitious goal to sell only EVs starting 2030. 

Maruti Suzuki has been one of the most magnificent examples of the benefits of 'Make in India'. It was the most successful indigenous manufacturing project of India when it was started in the 80's. Maruti Suzuki has been a real 'Make in India' story, and it dates back before this slogan itself got famous.

Suzuki will set up a lithium-ion battery factory which'll be used to charged electric and hybrid vehicles from the companies stable. This plant will roll-out by 2020. The technology would be provided by Denso, a Toyota company and Toshiba will contribute in building with cell modules. The move provides a boost to Suzuki's stated 'Make in India' objective of using India as a major base of supplying its cars worldwide. They are trying to achieve economies of scale which will in turn reduce the production cost, hence bringing down the selling price. 

 There are some other market players too, who have sensed the change in the game and are going electric. Tata Motors is looking to rebuild Nano as an EV, Mahindra is preparing to enter the cab aggregator sector with electric cars, it is already the manufacturer of Reva, India's highest selling EV. Nissan is also another EV manufacturer operating in India. 

Although few can doubt the necessity of the move the real concern is, if the automobile industry is ready for these reforms. Because make no mistake this isn't as easy as it sounds. Back in 2010 Suzuki had showcased an all electric version of Swift called Swift REEV or Range Extender. It never made it to any car showroom.

So what are the challenges in going electric? Automobile Industry had been complaining of a lack of a coherent EV policy in India with inconsistent decisions and statements. For example the government have been incentivising hybrid cars so far, but it has hiked tax on these cars. Then there is insufficient charging stations. India has nearly 56,000 fuel stations and the number of charging stations in the country - 206. As the operating range of EV's is so low India would need a major development in charging infrastructure. This shift to EV's will also cause a loss of jobs for many as manufacturing of EV's will be more automated than petrol/diesel cars. A combustion engine car has 1400 components to build the motor, exhaust, and transmission system. An EV electric motor and battery has only 200 components. Without countering these obstacles it would be a very difficult task to make the Indian roads go electric.