Indian government will need to take bigger steps in order to promote electric vehicles in India. Automobile companies are suffering from lower sales as many consumers are waiting for new launches in electric vehicles segment. However, the companies have failed to launch any mass market vehicle in the Indian market.

For Indian consumers, electric vehicles in price range of 8-12 lakh will be ideal. However, Hyundai has launched Kona electric in Indian market with a price tag of 24 lakh. It will be difficult for this vehicle to reach enough of sales volume to make viable case for Hyundai.

Indian government has decreased GST on electric vehicles to 5 percent but that isn’t as good compared to other countries where governments are offering tax rebate to consumers shifting to electric vehicles. If the government really wants to promote the usage of electric vehicles in India, concrete steps will be needed. The government could also invite public-private partnerships for establishing fast-charging networks. Additionally, government controlled oil companies could be pushed to setup fast charging networks on existing petrol stations.

Automobile companies are already suffering from lower sales and it would be wishful thinking to expect them to make big investments in setup of charging networks. Overall, the picture for automobile sector isn’t very promising and unless the government helps, next 3-4 years would be painful for majority of companies.