Nissan is learnt to be actively considering a pilot project for the all-electric Leaf car for the India market. It recently showcased the car, along with its 4x4 Patrol all-terrain vehicle at the Delhi Carnival, to gauge public opinion. The event was just a few days before the government announced its FAME India scheme to promote hybrids and EVs.

Speaking exclusively to Autocar Professional, Guillaume Sicard, president of Nissan India Operations, said that if the Leaf comes into the country without any incentives or other assistance, it would cost close to Rs 50 lakh in India. Imported vehicles in India attract over 100 percent duties, making them commercially unviable in a cost competitive market.

“We are working to see how to bring the costs down and just do a pilot phase. The right price obviously would be around Rs 15 lakh, which will be something quite acceptable but today we are far from this price,” he elaborated.

But how much will a Rs 1 lakh-plus subsidy on the Leaf really shave off from a sticker price of Rs 50 lakh? An alternative option would be to assemble it locally at the Renault-Nissan Alliance plant in Chennai. But Sicard does not visualise it happening right now. “We first need to test the market with imports and to test the capacity of the government to establish infrastructure. We also need to do a pilot, which is not possible with an imported car. We need to do a pilot under normal conditions.”

The involvement of state governments will be crucial for the successful rollout of pilot projects as will be public charging infrastructure for which the central government will have to provide funds in the initial years. Governments around the world particularly developed markets like the USA, EU, Japan and China are promoting alternate technology vehicles. Globally the major focus is on market creation through various incentives, particularly on the demand side.

“The subsidies that wise governments around the world are offering are around $10,000 (Rs 6.31 lakh) on each vehicle. This is the average and if you look at the US, northern Europe, France and Japan, the subsidy amounts to a lot of money,” says Sicard.

“If you take that route, the government needs to assist but thereafter technology will improve and then the cost will decrease at the OEM and the subsidies at the government level will also decrease. But to start this process, like many countries have done, you need to have a very strong and high participation,” he concludes.