Electric vehicle sales charge up on Mnistry's largesse

Electric vehicle sales have seen a sharp spurt in the last few months, because of a drastic drop in model prices on the back of a generous Government subsidy.

Mahindra Reva, the only electric manufacturer in the country, said sales of its ‘REVAi' have jumped three-fold in the last two months. Meanwhile, another industry official said that sales of electric scooters have also gone up 30 per cent.

The strong growth in the nascent EV industry has been spurred by the massive sop announced by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in November last year. At a total project cost of Rs 95 crore, it has provided for 20 per cent subsidy on the factory price of EVs up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh for cars and Rs 5,000 for electric two-wheelers. Companies are, however, required to have 30 per cent local content.

Mr R. Chandramouli, COO, Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles, told Business Line that the subsidy has led to a drop in prices by Rs 75,000 of the REVAi to Rs 3.5 lakh.

“We have seen a three-fold jump in our 50 units a month sales after the subsidy was announced. Sales have increased across all regions where we have an outlet such as Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Kerala. We were earlier selling 600 units a year, but now expect to sell 3,000 units in 2011-12,” he said, adding that the company has asked the Government to increase the annual subsidy cap from 700 units to 3,000 units.

Mahindra Reva is also rapidly expanding its sales network. Before it bought out the Reva business, the company had only two points of sale but by March aims to have 30 showrooms and a total of 100 by 2011-end, Mr Chandramouli said.
Hero Electric

Hero Electric, the largest electric two-wheeler maker, has also seen a sharp sales spike in January and most of this month. “We have seen a 30 per cent increase in sales year-on-year. We have a 38 per cent share of the electric two-wheeler market and hope to maintain this pace through the year,” said Mr Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric and Director (Corporate Affairs) of the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.

In 2010, 85,000 electric two-wheelers were sold, of which 65,000 units are accounted for by the organised players.