Inflection Point in EV Market: Transition from E3W to E4W Imminent, Says Experts

With the improved technology, we have started seeing inflection point taking place in terms of three-wheeler segment and it will soon happen in personal mobility towards the four-wheeler segment, LOHUM said.

“India is at a very great stage where we are seeing significant growth in terms of the EV penetration year on year (YoY) basis. But in terms of pricing, the personal mobility is a little costlier. However, the technology improvement happening over a period of time, the costs are coming down which means the inflection point in terms of the three-wheeler segment or in the commercial segment that has already happened in two-wheeler segment,” Chetan Jain, Vice President, LOHUM said.

“We have started seeing the taking place of inflection point and soon that will also happen in personal mobility towards the four-Wheeler side. If you talk about the market penetration, the four-wheelers are still just at 2.5% compared to what ICE is. So there is a tremendous scope for us to grow. And the future definitely for EV is bright given the impetus that government is also putting on the sector by having multiple policies both towards supply as well as on the demand side,” Jain added.

Speaking on the opportunities in the electric vehicle sector, Uday Narang, Founder, Omega Seiki said that the industry has an opportunity over the next five to 10 years to make India greener and cleaner.

“I don’t like the air quality of 400 or 500 AQI, but I think we’ve got a great opportunity. There’s a huge future in any part of this business, in this ecosystem, whether it is recycling or commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles,” he added.

Speaking on acceptance of EV in the market, he said that if you make the right product and align forces continuously, “I don’t see where EV is not acceptable,” he added.

“I think the market has changed over the last few years. I think the government has come down hard on violators and I think the market is going to grow continuously,” he further added.

Meanwhile speaking on the car detailing industry Saurabh Vikas, founder, OCD Detail Studio said that even if car detailing for ICE vehicle or EV is almost identical, we have a lot of techniques and information that we can use to ensure that the effluence are reduced to the bare minimum.

Underlining the challenges, Jhanvi Gupta, CMO, Vegh Automobiles, said that convincing consumer that buying EV is an investment is a key challenge in certain areas including Punjab and Haryana where the consumer is more price sensitive. She said, “When we look closely towards the market of Punjab and Haryana, it is extremely distorted in terms of lower priced vehicles. Consumer are really not understanding what they’re investing in. So the biggest challenge that we as an OEM, and not just us, there are certainly other players in the two wheeler market who are facing the challenge to actually convince the customer right now.”

She said that the challenge has gotten a little broader. “It is like lead acid, lithium-ion, because you see the investment on the lead acid battery is much lower than the one that they make on the lithium-ion battery,” Gupta added.

The dialogue on Big EV Mobility Opportunity in India held during two-day Franchise India Startup Summit 2024 in Yashobhoomi, on May 18 and 19, 2024.