Hyderabad: The high prices of electric vehicles are deterring people from purchasing them, but now the situation is changing. Until recently, electric two-wheelers were priced between Rs 1 and 1.5 lakhs. At the same time, petrol scooters and motorcycles are available under Rs 1 lakh. With this, industry sources have been analysing that the sales of electric vehicles are not increasing as expected.
Now electric two-wheeler companies are reducing the prices of their products significantly. They are giving a discount of up to Rs 25,000 on each vehicle. Ola Electric has slashed the price of its S1 range of scooters by Rs 25,000. This discount is applicable for S1 Pro, S1 Air and S1 X+ vehicles. Due to this, these vehicles are available at a showroom price of Rs 79,999 to Rs 1,29,999.
Hero MotoCorp subsidiary Vida has also reduced the prices of its scooters. Interestingly, electric car companies are also following the same path. Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata, MG Motors and other companies have slightly reduced the prices of their electric cars. The main reasons for the decline in the prices of electric vehicles can be said to be technological changes and cost reduction due to the large number of vehicles being manufactured.
The FAME-II subsidy, which is being implemented to increase the production and sales of electric vehicles, is expiring at the end of this month. Hence, the Central government has allocated Rs 7,048 crore under this scheme. These funds are used to provide subsidies to buyers of electric two-wheelers, autos and cars. Electric vehicle manufacturers are also gearing up to reduce the price of vehicles now to avail the benefit of this subsidy before the deadline. They consider this as an opportunity to clear their vehicle stocks by the end of March. These developments benefit consumers. Now, it is possible to own an electric vehicle at a low price .
Dramatic growth in sales
Industry sources claim that the electric vehicle industry is going to grow exponentially soon. According to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) statistics, the sales of all types of electric vehicles (two and three-wheelers, cars and buses) in 2022-23 have been recorded at Rs 11.79 lakhs.
In all, 13.77 lakh electric vehicles have already been sold in 2023-24. The autos and cars segment is witnessing higher growth than electric two-wheelers and buses. Sales of electric two-wheelers were 7.28 lakhs in 2022-23 and 7.37 lakhs in 2023-24 till the end of February. Industry sources expect sales to pick up sharply in March due to reduced prices, resulting in attractive growth in two-wheeler sales for the financial year 2023-24.
Many changes by 2027
Research services firm Gartner predicts that as the use of electric vehicles in place of conventional petrol and diesel vehicles is increasing worldwide, the production costs will decrease significantly in the next few years, due to which electric vehicles will be available at the price of petrol and diesel vehicles.
Due to this, the prices of electric vehicles are likely to come down by 2027, according to the latest report. It is said that the changes coming in the production process and new technology will enable this. The day is not far when the cost of production of petrol and diesel vehicles will be high and the cost of production of electric vehicles will become low.
Repairs are the problem
With the introduction of 'Gigacastings' made available by Tesla in America, the production methods of electric vehicles are changing. This technology has the potential to produce millions of electric vehicles in a very short time and at a low cost. But, the problem is that electric vehicle repairs are becoming an expensive affair, Gartner said.
Especially if an accident happens to an electric vehicle, it will cost a lot to repair. It is said that if the cost of vehicle purchase as well as repair cost is low, electric vehicles will be in high demand.
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