Exclusive: Bajaj Auto to foray into EVs with e-3-wheeler first

The Pune-based Bajaj Auto, India’s largest three-wheeler manufacturer and the fourth largest two-wheeler company, has begun developing its competencies on the front of electric vehicle (EV) technologies. It is learnt that the company plans to foray into the EV space, possibly starting with battery- and electric motor-run three-wheelers.

Autocar Professional spoke to a number of sources who have confirmed that Bajaj Auto is working on electric three-wheelers as part of its initial EV rollout plan. “Bajaj Auto is developing EV competencies. While the company is devising its EV roadmap for the near future, it plans to venture into the EV space with an electric three-wheeler first,” revealed a source, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

If sources are to be believed, the development of an electric three-wheeler concept is understood to be carried out by a dedicated team based at Bajaj Auto’s Waluj-based facility in Aurangabad. “Although there is not much clarity on the go-to-market timeline of the proposed electric three-wheeler, it is estimated that this could happen over the next two years from now, with the concept being readied earlier than expected,” disclosed another industry official.

Autocar Professional’s query to Bajaj Auto calling for details and clarity on the subject has yet to receive a response.

Bajaj well placed to plug into EVs
In FY2016-17, Bajaj Auto was the market leader in the three-wheeler market with a share of 49.48 percent. It sold 253,147 units in the domestic market, which saw total sales of 511,658 units during the fiscal. The company is also the largest exporter of three-wheelers from India. It shipped 191,236 units out of the country’s total export volumes of 271,894 units during the last fiscal. Being the market leader and given its size and volumes, Bajaj Auto is well placed to explore new areas such as EV technologies.

Besides Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) are understood to be technology-ready on the electric three-wheeler front. It can be recalled that TVS Motor Company has already showcased its electric three-wheeler concepts earlier (including at Auto Expo 2016 in Greater Noida). The Hosur-based automaker has developed its own battery management system (BMS), one of the key areas of competencies in battery-run vehicles.

Electric two-wheelers part of EV roadmap
Bajaj Auto is also learnt to be keen on developing electric two-wheelers as it has placed them in its mid-term EV roadmap. Industry sources have confirmed to Autocar Professional that the development of electric two-wheelers is also on the radar for Bajaj Auto. However, there is no clarity on that front yet.

Among rivals, TVS Motor Company has already prepared and displayed its electric two-wheeler concepts on several occasions earlier. Hero MotoCorp has also made strategic investments in Bangalore-based electric scooter start-up Ather Energy last year.  And the Pune-based Tork Motorcycles, another electric two-wheeler start-up, is aggressively working on its plans for a speedy motorcycle. 

These developments come on the sidelines of the recent recommendations published by NITI Aayog, the government’s policy think-tank. ‘India Leaps Ahead: Transformative Mobility Solution’, a joint report produced by NITI Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute, says accelerated adoption of electric and shared vehicles could save US$ 60 billion in diesel and petrol costs while cutting down as much as 1 gigatonne (GT) of carbon emissions for India by 2030.

Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog’s CEO, has on several occasions mentioned his outlook on the declining costs of the batteries. “The cost of batteries is falling by about half every five years, and in the next 4-5 years, EVs with batteries would not be far more expensive than petrol or diesel vehicles, while operational cost will be just 20 percent of that of a petrol vehicle,” he had quoted in one of the media reports.

However, as Dr Pawan Goenka, MD, Mahindra & Mahindra, said in an interview to Autocar Professional, “I would also caution that this whole view that seems to be there that prices of electric batteries are dropping so quickly that everything will fall in place in the next three years, I think that is overstated. Yes, they are dropping but that by itself is not going to be enough. The big task is how to make EVs affordable, for all the people concerned, without government subsidy.”