Despite Covid impact, EV Industry Foresees Sales In FY-21 Similar To FY20 Numbers
The domestic Electric Vehicle industry registered a 20 per cent growth in FY 2019-20 at 156,000 units, out of which 152,000 were two-wheeler, 3400 were cars and 600 were buses. The industry expects a similar segment-wise break up during FY 21 with two-wheeler accounting for a maximum chunk of the pie despite the long lockdown, zero sales for over a month and disruption in supply-chain.
Talking to BW Businessworld, Sohinder Gill, Director General, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles maintained, “Even if we lose 6 months (of zero sales), there will not be any de-growth. The last 3-4 months the (EV) industry was growing very healthy. At some point of time the growth will return. So even if it is 8 months of sales (during FY21), the industry will be able to sell 156,000 units (last year sales).
When asked to shed some light on the growth drivers for EVs, Gill maintained, “Public transport will be a very difficult choice for customers. People who can opt out of crowded public transport can go for personal transport. So, the first choice will be to go for an affordable two-wheeler. Secondly there is some thinking going on in the minds of customers about the environment also.”
When asked if the Covid-19 will have a major impact on EV sales, Gill maintained, “EV production was dependent on demand which was anyhow negligible. At a time when our dealers are stocking so many products, that one and a half months sales will now become four months’ sale because of slow offtake. In the next 3-4 months, sales will be low. Therefore, production will also be extremely low. Things will change only in the second half of this quarter.”
When asked if the industry needs any support from the government, Gill affirmed, “Govt is unlikely to offer any subsidies at this juncture. However, If the government can relax the restriction on localisation (of EVs) for 3-6 months and then reimplement it around September. Also, battery cells and motors are still imported and cannot be air-freighted. So if our government can offer some tax holidays for makers of such products here, we can go for 100% localisation.”
It is to be mentioned that EV sales during FY 18-19 was 126,000 two-wheelers, 3600 cars and around 400 buses making a total of 130,000 units. In the E2Ws sold in FY 19-20, 97% were electric scooters and a very small volume of motorcycles and electric cycles filled the rest of 3%. In the electric four-wheeler segment, 3400 units were sold compared to 3600 units in the previous fiscal year. The decrease in numbers is attributed mainly due to lack of bulk purchase of E-cars in FY 19-20 and discontinuation of one of the leading car models. “Few experiments like E2Ws being sold without the batteries and customer paying for the batteries as a fuel, E-commerce companies realising the economic benefits of EVs and converting their fleets, E Carts becoming a convenient and cost-effective means of short distance logistics, E taxis fleets beginning to make money due to lower operating costs may bring around the inflection point in the EV industry in FY 21-22”, added Gill.
