Chetan Maini, who gave India its first electric car Reva, thinks an affordable electric vehicle is a few years away.
“While battery prices have been going down 8 percent year-on-year, it still constitutes almost 50 percent of the cost,” Maini told BloombergQuint in an interview. The cost parity with fossil-fuel driven vehicles will take at least five years, he said.
But, according to Maini, it's difficult to achieve that parity for cars priced are under Rs 5 lakh, scooters costing under Rs 80,000, or three-wheelers under Rs 2 lakh. “In these cases, it will take longer.”
Maini, who co-founded electric mobility firm SUN Mobility after selling Reva Electric Car Co. to Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said innovative models around battery-swapping and leasing will be critical to bring down the cost of electric vehicles in the short term.
It has already partnered with ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies to deploy electric three-wheelers in select Indian cities and will offer swapable smart batteries and quick interchange stations. The first batch of of such vehicles will be launched in coming months, he said.
WATCH | Chetan Maini on India's EV drive
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