[vtires2018]

PluginIndia has criticized car and scooter companies doing business in India.
They say these companies are only interested in selling gas guzzling polluting vehicles. They have criticized Bajaj, Maruti, Yamaha, Hero Motor Corp, Toyota, MG, Mahindra etc

Is that valid criticism/ feedback ? see in PlugInIndia EV gossip section.

Also gas/petrol guzzling would also imply heavy imports for oil, and we have less money as a country to spend on other efforts.


From EIA
India was the third-largest energy consumer in the world after China and the United States in 2021 (according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022) and the second-most populous country, with 1.4 billion people.1 India’s energy needs continue to grow as a result of population growth and modernization.2

Primary energy consumption in India decreased nearly 6% in 2020 but returned to average levels in 2021, growing by 10%.6 In 2020, coal continued to supply most (44%) of India’s total energy consumption. Petroleum and other liquids accounted for 24% of total energy consumption, and traditional biomass and waste accounted for 21%. Other renewable fuel sources made up a small but growing portion of primary energy consumption (1%), although the capacity potential is significant for several of these resources, such as solar, wind, and hydroelectricity.7 Use of traditional biomass and waste declined over the past several years as the availability of electricity connections has spread for the residential and commercial sectors. Although natural gas accounts for 6% of the country’s energy consumption, India plans to boost the natural gas market share to 15% by 2030 as part of the country’s plan to reduce air pollution and use cleaner-burning fuels8 (Figure 1).

https://www.eia.gov/international/analysis/country/IND


From above, it seems like we need massive increases in Solar, Wind and other renewables to decrease pollution and "Save our Money" on buying petrol and other Oil products.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by vtires2018

PluginIndia has criticized car and scooter companies doing business in India. ...They say these companies are only interested in selling gas guzzling polluting vehicles. They have criticized Bajaj, Maruti, Yamaha, Hero Motor Corp, Toyota, MG, Mahindra etc.....Is that valid criticism/ feedback ? see in PlugInIndia EV gossip section....Also gas/petrol guzzling would also imply heavy imports for oil, and we have less money as a country to spend on other efforts.

Had to look up who PluginIndia was.

Gas guzzling had me cracking up. If we look up whole car history, our car market fleet would have the lowest number of gas guzzlers.

Then ofcourse, in their words they are an Electric Vehicle advocacy group, we can't expect them to say anything else.

[TheRandomGuy]

Have been following PluginIndia from the time I was got interested in EVs. They put out really good content and coverage of the EV space in India, and their members have been using EVs from a really long time(think Reva).

Their recent series on busting EV myths is also really well made with facts and statistics unlike a certain someone who just posted his silly views about EVs.

Having said that, they do sometimes put out these "propaganda" type videos on Indian OEMs, and I feel they shouldn't deviate towards political statements and stick to EV news and coverage.

In one video they say, Mahindra purposefully bought out Reva and tried to kill it by releasing the E20 with lot of delays and lethargically. The jury is out on this one.

Companies are here to make a profit, and PluginIndia should know that. Companies move towards what they feel is profitable in the short/long term.

Mahindra knows their SUV lineup is the most profitable so of course they stick to that.

TLDR : PluginIndia is right and wrong on their criticisms, but they should avoid these type of videos and just stick to increasing awareness about EVs in India.

[frewper]

Originally Posted by vtires2018

They say these companies are only interested in selling gas guzzling polluting vehicles. They have criticized Bajaj, Maruti, Yamaha, Hero Motor Corp, Toyota, MG, Mahindra etc

Fair criticism and a valid one as well. ICE vehicles are a tried and tested model. And you are doing business a certain way, you always don't want to keep changing.

Its difficult to change, retooling of factories, teaching and training people, tweaking your supply chain are all difficult things to do.

Not to mention ICE vehicles generate more after sales revenue in terms of service.

Hence companies would prefer doing something that they are best at, rather than do something new.

Having said that, companies are changing, because in this day and age it have become obvious that you having to keep reinventing yourself otherwise someone else will take a slice of your pie.

People need a cleaner, non polluting vehicle, and EV's are the way to go. And since the companies mentioned above have identified that (barring toyota), they have now started to make them.

Things will change, In the next 10 years I am sure people will look at ICEs in a negative way that how it is viewed today.

[SKC-auto]

Originally Posted by TheRandomGuy

Companies are here to make a profit, and PluginIndia should know that. Companies move towards what they feel is profitable in the short/long term.

True, I also believe we should call out those companies which purposefully make wrong statements about EVs, lobby against EVs.

Originally Posted by frewper

People need a cleaner, non polluting vehicle, and EV's are the way to go. And since the companies mentioned above have identified that (barring toyota), they have now started to make them.

Toyota says something, does something completely different, they have 16 EVs lined up for launch, hardly any Hydrogen car, they have now identified that without EVs in their line up they will end up like Nokia or Kodak. Offcourse their egoistic President does not agree openly and they continue to make small hydrogen projects.

[HappyRider]

Originally Posted by TheRandomGuy

PluginIndia is right and wrong on their criticisms, but they should avoid these type of videos and just stick to increasing awareness about EVs in India.

I think their recent videos is in response to a certain guy's videos saying EVs are not the future. They could have avoided certain statements and stuck to facts only.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by TheRandomGuy

Having said that, they do sometimes put out these "propaganda" type videos on Indian OEMs, and I feel they shouldn't deviate towards political statements and stick to EV news and coverage...In one video they say, Mahindra purposefully bought out Reva and tried to kill it by releasing the E20 with lot of delays and lethargically. The jury is out on this one.

Blame the algorithms. Nowadays even big ones have to churn out clickbaity stuff to stay relevant, and I guess ones like PluginIndia would look towards their bigger western counterparts. They wanted their version of 'Who killed the electric car'. Even the argument of Mahindra purposefully buying and trying to kill Reva is childish IMO. Mahindra bought Reva when even the Nissan Leaf was not yet launched, let alone the poster child Elon era Tesla. The E20 was launched in a time when battery costs were still high, so they had to cut costs in the E20s. Also they did the old BEV cardinal mistake of making their car look different.
If someone does believe that Mahindra (a majorly diesel UV maker of 2010) had the plan to kill off electric vehicles because they were a threat to gas guzzlers and the oil lobby...

[sharathkamath04]

Been following PluginIndia group for a while (from initial interest in EV to buying one).

Most videos are very resourceful and compared to what other Auto Journos publish have facts about EVs. Most Auto Journos are against EV and the content is totally biased. I guess just as Tata is making the most with EVs and becoming a dominant OEM, PluginIndia will be a dominant publisher in the BEV future.

[vtires2018]

yes, there have been lot of click bait headlines on regular Auto India specific news sites, and also on Youtube.
Anybody here- can you post some good reliable EV specific news sites? Plugin India does give Auto Manufacturers quotes, and why they think they are being unfair to EV customers.

I think EV's need to be compared with Savings, less money to fuel(charge), less maintenance, and better EV adoption by education ( for example Offices installing EV charging plugs/connectors using atleast 7kW EVSE, they are just Rs 40,000 ) It can be perks for the employees, or employees can even pay for the charging cost, (it would be minimal, Rs 1 per Km) They can pay per kWh consumed etc.

We need better EV education, and adoption..
Everybody wants Tesla ! , but Tesla is not needed in Indian environment, the daily driving use per KM is far less than USA. Example BYD E6 gives 450 + KM range with 71kWh battery, I would say EV manufacturers should target 50-60 kW batteries for Indian market, and target real world range of 300-350 KM to get over the Range anxiety.

Instead of waiting for charging infrastructure, people can install 7kW charger in their homes, and advertise in their area, and earn money.

Those tier 2, tier 3 have big advantage over Tier 1, since many people own independent homes, and have charging spaces !

It cost Rs 40,000 for 7kW EVSE / charger, and you would recover that cost really easily when you consider the petrol cost. ( which you cannot recover).

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by vtires2018

Those tier 2, tier 3 have big advantage over Tier 1, since many people own independent homes, and have charging spaces !

True. No street parking or apartment charging problems.

Easy to just plug in overnight and even invest in a solar charging system.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by vtires2018

They say these companies are only interested in selling gas guzzling polluting vehicles.

This one cracked me up.
Gas guzzling? In India? The country where almost always, the first question is "whats the mileage"?

They have criticized Bajaj, Maruti, Yamaha, Hero Motor Corp, Toyota, MG, Mahindra etc

Hero Motor Corp? Seriously? If I am not mistaken they make the most fuel efficient motorcycles in their class.

PluginIndia seems to be an advocate for eVehicles. Nothing wrong in promoting clean energy. To do that, there is absolutely no need to try and unfairly put others in bad light.