Hyundai Motor India to focus on making Battery EVs, says COO Garg

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) will be focusing more on producing ‘Battery Electric Vehicles’ (BEVs) as it is the way forward and, hopefully, contribute in reducing the country’s huge oil import bills, said a top official.

“Hyundai has access to all technologies such as CNG, flex fuels, EVs, hydrogen, diesel, petrol and turbo,” Chief Operating Officer Tarun Garg told The Hindu. “But, we will be going in for BEVs as it is the way forward.”

“Currently, the EV penetration is only 2% and it is

Tarun Garg

set to rise. The Indian government has given a clear mandate that BEVs are the way forward. OEMs are banking on BEVs and, so, Hyundai is also banking on BEVs, though we have access to all the technologies,” he reiterated.

The country’s secondlargest passenger vehicle maker has different strategies for different countries depending on infrastructure, taxation and government requirements.

Hyundai had already announced it would be investing ₹26,000 crore in its Chennai plant towards capacity expansion, new models and batterypack localisation.

“Localisation will help us bring down battery cost and enable us to introduce more BEVs. From 2025, you will see the launch of more BEVs,” Mr. Garg added.

While noting that in the last 14 months, the carmaker sold 1,400 Ioniq5 BEVS, he said the introduction of Kona BEV and Ioniq5 had helped them understand the behaviour of the BEV market in India.

By 2030, the Indian government expects, the BEV market would be about 30% of the passenger vehicle (PV) market while the industry projects it would be about 2022%. Hyundai sales would be on similar lines, Mr. Garg said.

On publiccharging stations, he said Hyundai was working aggressively with dealers to increase the number of charging points in several places.

(The writer was in New Delhi at the invitation of Hyundai Motor India Ltd.)