‘2027 good time to be electric’, says Hero Electric MD Naveen Munjal – EQ Mag Pro
A strict mandate for electrification will prompt automakers like Hero Electric to make the switch to EVs faster.
India’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer Hero Electric has called to end sales of gasoline-powered two wheelers by 2027 to speed up India’s switch to electric vehicles. The transition to electric vehicles in India is far behind countries like China.
The shift to EVs has been stymied due to high prices and lack of charging infrastructure. While China accounts for 97 per cent of the global electric two-wheeler fleet, they translate into less than 1 per cent of total sales in India.
“2027 would be a good time for new sales to be 100% electric. If we leave it to market forces then things come along at their own pace and the transition will be much slower than what it could be,” Managing Director of India’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer Naveen Munjal was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.
A strict mandate for electrification will prompt automakers like Hero Electric to make the switch to EVs faster. “Once the goals are in place, companies will start planning backwards in terms of supply chain, re-skilling, infrastructure requirements and financial implications,” he added.
Hero Electric will launch its upcoming e-scooter by March 2022. The Delhi-based electric vehicle maker is mulling an investment of Rs 700 crore to expand its annual production capacity to 5 lakh units. Hero Electric is installing charging stations all over India to improve the EV infrastructure and plans to expand its presence into markets like Europe and Latin America via exports.
“We are hence ramping up our production facilities to manufacture over 5 lakh vehicles and will go on to expand to add capacities to make over 1 million vehicles every year, year-on-year to meet the growing demand. We at Hero are extremely bullish about the market and are looking forward to a new era of electric mobility,” Munjal said on the expansion of production capacities.
