Development of a Small Electric Vehicle for India

With the tremendous growth in the number of registered vehicles, India is coming to a point where its major cities are becoming virtually unliveable due to rapidly increasing environmental pollution. Public and regulatory pressures dictate the need for a market strategy to plan for alternative transportation technologies to speedily reduce transport related emissions in the urban centres.

By far the most popular vehicles in the country are two and three-wheelers. Two key vehicle market characteristics in the country are a relatively benign urban driving profile and a price elastic market demand.

This paper presents the background for a viable market for electric vehicles in India. It looks at the efforts associated with design, development, testing, and demonstration of the product, along with lessons learned. The results could provide an insight into the path to commercialisation of such vehicles.