Insights on EV development
As noted earlier, Euler’s approach to those largely technical challenges has been to focus on one vehicle initially and build up a support structure around it. Likewise, to address supply chain and manufacturing challenges, Kumar explained that Euler has focused on knowledge-sharing with its supplier network, which consequently enables a progressively greater amount of import substitution and localization.
In terms of the policy environment, investors in India face a similar situation as those in the Philippines, where there are often differences between central and local government requirements and terms of engagement. According to Kumar, it has only been since 2018, or about the time Euler Motors was founded, that India’s national government began to take an earnest interest in EVs but since then has been supportive with policies that focus on localization of components, improved performance of vehicles and standardization of charging stations.
Where the rubber hits the road, so to speak, is in the implementation of the policies, which requires action at the local (state) levels. Kumar explained that almost all of India’s state governments have developed good policies but implementation has been rather slow; he added, however, that this is improving, largely as a result of strong customer demand.
Tapping that demand, or in some cases creating it, requires offering a competitive product. “Commercial vehicle customers are extremely performance oriented. Until and unless a vehicle can match the optimum performance levels, and deliver the promised payload, the options aren’t viable for customers,” Kumar said. “So far, commercial EVs have been inferior products and haven’t delivered with respect to performance and payload as compared to their [non-EV] counterparts.”
That sets an obvious benchmark, and so Euler set out to design its HiLoad vehicle to meet it, which it largely has, according to Kumar. The vehicle has the highest load capacity of any three-wheeler available in India, and is on par, and slightly superior in some respects, in terms of overall performance compared to its conventional counterparts.
It seems to be working; Kumar said the company has a firm order book of 3,500 vehicles already, and is on target to meet its goal of selling 5,000 by the end of next year, which is not a bad output for a not quite four-year-old start-up. The company’s nearterm plans include expanding its production capacity and its footprint to additional areas of India, and to work toward vehicles with a potential for import sales.
If I had to summarize the key takeaways for the local sector from this case study, I would put it this way: Focus on a segment where there is already a clear need — the light-duty, local commercial market is probably a good one — and develop one good product at a time with a holistic approach, building up the supporting framework at the same time as the actual vehicle. Not only would this be more likely to be commercially viable, it may also help encourage the necessary policy development, as that would not need to be as broad as legislators and policymakers fixated on the idea of grand “magna cartas” and “road maps” usually think it is.