Mahindra Reva could put new electric vehicles on hold

The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 envisages putting 6-7 million electric and hybrid cars on Indian roads by the year 2020. To achieve this, the Indian government plans to earmark about 15,000-16,000 crore rupees in subsidies and direct benefits to car and auto component makers. While these plans do exist on paper, electric car and two wheeler makers are yet to get the direct subsidy on electric cars. 

One such electric vehicle maker is Mahindra Reva, which launched the E2O electric car earlier this year. The non-availability of direct government subsidies on the E2O has meant that the electric car is significantly pricier than similarly sized petrol and diesel engined hatchbacks sold in India. Consequently, the E20 has been a poor seller, with the electric car's sales falling far short of Mahindra Reva's original sales estimates. 

Even as Mahindra Reva has been readying up a more powerful version of the E2O for markets abroad, the electric vehicle maker has also been working on electric variants of existing Mahindra car and utility vehicles. Three such examples are the Verito Electric, Gio Electric and the Maxximo Electric models. While Mahindra Reva is ready to launch these vehicles by the middle of 2014, the electric vehicle maker is said to be reconsidering launch plans due to the delay in the announcement of government subsidies for electric vehicles. 

The electric vehicle maker might not put the likes of the Verito and Maxximo electric vehicles on roads if the expected governmental subsidies for electric vehicles doesn't come through. However, the electric vehicle maker is likely to continue producing electric vehicles for export markets. For now, Mahindra Reva will continue producing the E2O from its Electronic City factory at Bangalore for the domestic and export markets. 

Source AutocarPro