Webinar Insights: Electric Two Wheeler India Market Outlook post COVID-19
As the economy strives to revive itself from the disruption caused by the COVID-induced lockdown, a myriad of entities across the socio-economic spectrum foresee an uncertain future. Yet, there are some like e-mobility which is not only accelerating the wheels of sustainable development, but is also paving new tracks of opportunities in the market. Electric 2-wheeler is the front runner in advancing sustainability for road transport and it is highly important at this critical juncture, to envisage the trajectory of Indian E2W market post COVID-19.
JMK Research & Analytics shares this perspective and with the purpose of broadcasting awareness and essence of this subject, the firm organized a webinar titled “E2W India Market Outlook post COVID-19” on 11th June, 2020.
The webinar provided a platform for interactive discussion with 5 eminent speakers, namely,
- Sh. Anil Srivastava (Principal Consultant and Mission Director for Transformative Mobility & Battery Storage, NITI Aayog)
- Mr. Jeetender Sharma (Founder & Managing Director, Okinawa Autotech Pvt. Ltd)
- Mr. Nishchal Chaudhary (Founder, BattRE Electric Mobility)
- Mr. Sanjeev P (COO, Ampere Electric Vehicles)
- Mr. Babu K.S.V. (Business Head: e-Mobility, Cooling Solutions & Exports, Lucas-TVS Ltd.)
Sh. Anil Srivastava made the opening remark among the panelists and with great optimism assured that despite undergoing a turbulent phase during its market development, electric 2-wheelers is set to bounce back sooner on the positive growth trajectory post COVID-19. He also affirmed that the continuing fall of battery prices in the market in the recent times, which has been steeper than what was projected 3-4 years back, would spur greater demand for these vehicles in the future.
Mr. Jeetender Sharma shared his belief that post COVID-19, there would be a surge in demand for personal mobility, specifically, electric 2-wheelers primarily due to the increased awareness among the consumers to ensure social-distancing and thereby tending to avoid public transport facilities. He further supported his viewpoint by signifying the growing advantage of E2Ws over ICE-2Ws in terms of initial cost (BS-VI compliant ICE 2-wheelers to become costlier) and running cost (Fuel cost for E2Ws is about 20 paise per km & that of ICE-2Ws is about Rs. 1.7 per km). He also pointed out that the high-speed E2Ws have better growth prospects than the low-speed ones as the market would continue to provide better choices of high-performance 2-wheelers with frequent up-gradation of powertrain technologies.
Mr. Nishchal Chaudhary opined how there would be a favourable growth in demand for E2Ws post the pandemic situation and deliberated that a lot of consumers, in consideration of their health and environmental concerns, would undergo a preference change from public mobility and even ICE-2Ws to E2Ws. He remarked that there would be a renewed uptake in ride-sharing and 2-wheeler rental models in the market which would bring enhanced B2B opportunities for many Indian E2W OEMs. Mr. Nishchal also stressed the need for the provision of suitable financing schemes for low-income consumers for the purchase of low-speed E2Ws.
Mr. Sanjeev P asserted his view that the Indian E2W market has an enormous growth potential across its entire range of market segments. He emphasized the benefits of both low-speed and high-speed E2Ws. Expressing the convenience, light-weightedness, and affordability of low-speed vehicles, he spoke how this particular segment would fulfill the needs of potential consumers such as students, women, and senior citizens. Mr. Sanjeev stated that the recent advancements in technologies featured in high-speed E2Ws have made them at par or even better than ICE-2Ws in terms of vehicle utility. He also added that though the FAME – II policy was rolled out late into the market, the E2W industry has been able to manage the shift from the lead-acid battery to a lithium-ion battery in the last 2-3 quarters.
Mr. Babu K.S.V. presented the technical aspects of E2W powertrain that exist in the market and provided a brief overview of different powertrain segments i.e. hub motor and separate drive train motor. Mr. Babu also highlighted his opinion that the Phased Manufacturing Program by DHI has lent a fillip to investments and technology-building for both E2W components as well as sub-components. The speakers were in agreement that the growth outlook for high-speed E2Ws would be higher than that of low-speed E2Ws, albeit the latter would also see significant growth in market penetration. The two segments serve different sets of customers with varying needs and so both act as crucial drivers for the EV revolution. It has become incumbent upon all the stakeholders along the E2W value chain to implement long-term innovative strategies so as to be “Self Reliant” or “Atma Nirbhar” as the journey progresses.
To listen to the webinar recording, please click here.
Click here to download our “E2W India Market Outlook Report, May 2020“