What would be an appropriate time for Maruti to enter the e-car

market?
 In the global auto industry, transition to EVs is happening at a rapid pace. Data based on
the announcements made by global OEMs show that 76 percent of global car makers
have firm plans in place for their migration to EVs. But still there are some factors that
will influence the growth of the electric cars market in India, also customer acceptability
may not rise significantly in the next 4-5 years. 
 The biggest obstacle in EVs growth is that there is no battery manufacturing in India. All
the electric cars which are being made today are based on the shell for these batteries
which are mostly imported from China. The issue which we also have to deal with is that
even if we start manufacturing of shells in India, the current technology is based on the
use of lithium. Lithium is a material which is all imported, and a large percentage of
these lithium resources are controlled by one country.
 Another factor for EVs being in a slow lane is that the technology for making batteries
has not been upgraded at a scale of expectations and even the cost of batteries is not
coming down as expected. The small car makers will be reluctant to go green if
manufacturing costs doesn’t come down. 
 The industry will eventually migrate to EVs but, it will all depend on the development of
the battery technology which would help reduce the acquisition cost of EVs.
 Maruti Suzuki, which offers a ‘smart hybrid’ system as a variant for some of its models,
is betting on the hybrid technology proposition to facilitate a smooth transition to fully
electric vehicles. That is another area where the government needs to look at to
support, because a lot of these powertrain components are common between the plug-
in hybrids and EVs. The hybridization strategy and due government support will help in
localizing EV-related technologies, and could also help India to be competitive as an
export base for EVs.