Do Electrical Vehicles Have the ‘Power’ to Shape the Future?

Electrical Vehicles are the future and have the potential to transform everything. Right from vehicles to battery manufacturing setup, charging infrastructure to the battery swapping infrastructure, value-added services in EVs to in-car entertainment. Granted that autonomous driving (which is a far-fetched development of a technological aspect in a car) will be a significant element by then.

However, the adoption of EVs in India will take a while because the country has recently accepted petrol. Also, brands like Tesla have been finding it difficult to crack the markets because the government has clear domestic policies.

In my opinion, India should consider several schemes and incentives for EVs. While the Union Ministry is currently incentivizing local manufacturing, we’re also noticing the growth of Amar Raja Exide and ride-sharing start-ups like BluSmart Mobility. (A start-up that raised money recently)

?Additionally, Ather Energy which started as a suave, modern bike brand, had an entirely different model which focused on creating bikes and setting up company-owned shops (D2C approach) when Hero invested in them. Ather promptly realised that India is an old-school distribution-led market so they couldn’t just open experience centres in urban areas and expect people to show up and purchase them. Eventually, they understood that they would have to return to the old school distributors for better penetration. So, in the last 3-4 years they’ve been heavily targeting the large distributors of Hero and Bajaj Auto.?

?Another example of an emerging EV company is Chetak by Bajaj Auto Ltd , which learnt from Ather and started setting up shops in cities. But Chetak as a brand is a great launch because the traditional motorcycle manufacturers in India have realised that even though the product and the value they add are different, they should stick to the traditional approach.

?An interesting thing is that a lot of SAT NAV mapping companies like MapmyIndia and companies that provide digitization in these vehicles like sensor manufacturers, and the designers of the interface (UX/UI) that appears on the bikes, are probably juicing the most out of this entire revolution.?

?There’s a sudden demand for tech along with EVs. Even if the technology would have come in before the vehicles, these companies would still make money. But ever since the advent of EVs have happened in India, EVs, and these tech-based vehicles have come in together. So now suddenly you have two powerful elements and a bunch of beneficiaries.?

?I think as investors, we should look at where we can make consistent and predictable ROI.?

?Nowadays there are companies that are trying to capture around 15-20% of the market share each v/s earlier where one company had a 55% monopoly and the rest were following but when a Kia or a Hyundai has done so well, EVs are also going to most certainly split market shares.

?Do you think that old-school distribution along with the delivery of the tech and the product service (although EVs have fewer services that take up a lot of the revenue from the dealership) are game changers for EVs? Let me know if you do, below!