Honda sees challenges in govt’s plans for electric tech, tighter emission norms
NEWDELHI: India’s efforts to move to an all-electric fleet by 2030 and graduate vehicles to the stricter Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission norms by 2020 have put the local twowheeler unit of Honda Motor Co. in a spot of bother.
Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Pvt. Ltd does not have the technology for electric two-wheelers, president and chief executive Minoru Kato said in an interview, adding that the policydriven push to graduate to BS-VI norms, the toughest in the world, will increase twowheeler costs, leading to an overall decline in sales.
“Basically, we don’t have a success story (on the electric vehicle front). Honda has been developing electric motorcycles for more than 20 years. In Japan, we launched electric in the past but they don’t exist anymore,” said Kato, a Honda veteran who has served in Indonesia, Vietnam and the UK. India is now Honda’s larg- est market for two-wheelers in the world.
The company does not have any plans to bring electric vehicles to India as it is very difficult to meet customer expectations, Kato added.
“Still we have time and honestly speaking we don’t have electric battery technology and we need to rely on the battery suppliers,” Kato said, adding that the battery suppliers will have to dramatically improve their technology and reduce the size of their batter- ies as there is only so much space to fit those packs.
Honda has more than doubled its market share since 2010 to 29% in India and now threatens to dethrone its former joint venture partner Hero MotoCorp Ltd from the position of being India’s largest two-wheeler company.
Since Hero and Honda have parted ways, Hero’s market share has declined to 37% from 45% in 2010. Honda takes credit for making a dent in Hero’s share of the market by revolutionising the scooter segment, which in the beginning was an urban phenomenon but now it has started to make inroads into rural India—Hero’s stronghold.
But, if the two-wheeler market shifts towards the electric technology, as the Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (Siam) has envisaged, Hero seems to have an advantage.
Hero MotoCorp has already invested in Ather Energy—a Bengaluru-based start-up— for making electric two-wheelers. Kato said it is easier to introduce electric two-wheelers in the commuter segment in developed countries as their daily use is limited. In contrast, the daily commuting distances are longer in developing countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and India, making the battery range key for the success of electric twowheelers.
As of now, Honda is leading its former alliance partner Hero MotoCorp in 15 out of 29 states in terms of total twowheeler sales.