Tata Motors labels 2030 EV target huge challenge
Meeting the government's vision of 100 per cent electrification of public transport and 40 per cent of personal mobility by 2030 is a 'huge challenge', and one that will require a single-minded focus, Tata Motors CEO and MD Guenter Butschek said on Tuesday. Government incentives must be directed towards full electric vehicles (EVs) only, as the industry will have to develop other technologies such as hybrids in order to meet regulatory requirements going ahead, Butschek said.
"It is huge challenge... I think from a vision point of view, from an aspiration point of view, it is a good timeline but in order to get even close to it, we need to draft and translate it in to a policy," Butschek told reporters in the capital city. The challenge for the automobile industry will be to meet the demand of both conventional internal combustion engines (ICE) and electric vehicles, both of which would require big investments, he added. On an assumption that the Indian passenger vehicles market will hover at 10 million units annually by 2026, around 20 per cent, or two million, could be EVs and the rest ICE, with a good portion hybridised, Butschek said.
"If you compare with today's production capacity, you see how much more investment is required to build ICE and hybridisation capacity in order to feed eight million vehicles with an engine," he said, adding that the move towards electrification is also a large investment game. Therefore, he said, "The more you invest in conventional powertrain, the longer the transition from ICE to EV is going to take." He also said that there will be "that much write-off" as there will be no "reuse" of the ICE-based technology after 2031, which will be a big financial burden to the companies.
No fence sitting
Separately, German auto component major Bosch, on Tuesday, said it will go ahead with its development of electric mobility technologies in India despite the absence of a clear policy regarding the segment. The company, which showcased a Bosch-powered electric car in the capital, said it has set up a new division, 'Agile Project House', to develop Indiaspecific solutions in the field of electric mobility. "Policy will evolve. You (industry) are not going to get everything on day one. We are moving ahead, we are showing live examples, demos. We are showing the way forward. I think that is more important," Bosch MD Soumitra Bhattacharya told PTI. Echoing similar sentiments, Bosch India Mobility Solutions CTO Jan Oliver Roehrl said the firm will have to keep developing solutions. "As a tier-I supplier, it's our responsibility to come up with solutions. We are not going to wait for the policy to develop new solutions. We cannot be fence sitters," he said.
It is huge challenge... I think from a vision point of view, from an aspiration point of view, it is a good timeline but in order to get even close to it, we need to draft and translate it in to a policy