Electric car makers yet to make a mark in India

The euphoria about the high growth potential for the electric vehicles in the Indian market seems to be fading away. Despite being announced a number of times, any new electric car is yet to hit the Indian roads. The demand for electric cars in the country is yet to reach a noticeable level as India's only recognized electric car maker Reva has managed to sell mere 600 units of its electric cars in the Indian market in its 9 year's operations here even after having a massive annual production capacity of 6,000 units at its Bangalore plant. The company sold a total of 4,000 units of its electric cars globally during this period.

On the other hand, major car makers like Tata Motors and General Motors are yet to provide a time line of the launch of their respective electric cars in the Indian market. It is to be mentioned here that both of these companies have already announced that they will launch electric versions of their popular small cars in the Indian market. Where Tata Motors is planing to launch an electric version of its most popular car Tata Nano, GM India is developing an electric version of its compact hatchback Spark for the Indian market.   

According to industry experts, it will take about 10 years to develop a volume market for electric cars in India. At present, the electric vehicles contributes less the 1 percent to the total output of the automobiles in India. The major factors responsible for the comparatively moderate performance of electric vehicles in the country include lack of infrastructure and affordability.

However, as the Reva Electricals has been bought by country's largest utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra about a month back, we can expect the launch of two to three new electric cars under this brand.