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Japan's Suzuki Motor Corporation plans to enter the electric small car segment in future after gathering experience from its first EV, SUV e VITARA which will make its global debut in India which will be the company's production hub, its Representative Director and President Toshihiro Suzuki said on Thursday. The Japanese carmaker also believes that despite declining sales, small cars will not cease to exist in India, where its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki India is the market leader, as "one billion people" who are likely to upgrade from two-wheelers to four-wheelers in future would still need affordable cars, Suzuki told reporters here in an interaction. Maruti Suzuki India will unveil the e VITARA on Friday at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 being held at Bharat Mandapam. "Although we are launching our first EV, e VITARA, my personal feeling is that the compact vehicles will be the best for EVs... (but) I think first one has learn and master properly the manufacturing techniques
India needs investment worth USD 20-30 billion in the EV charging infrastructure to double the pace of growth of the segment, industry body IESA said on Thursday. It is a very niche segment which has just started picking up in the country, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) President Debi Prasad Dash said. Sharing his estimates, Dash said the EV charging infrastructure segment is growing at a rate of 25-30 per cent currently in India. To double this growth, investments worth USD 20-30 billion would be required, he said at the 'IESA India EV Fast Charging Summit' in the national capital. On PM E-Drive Scheme, Dash said "We (industry) all are waiting for the scheme to be floated. A few of the things the government is considering before outing the full scheme is they are trying to (figure out) state-wise demand allocation, considering the density of the vehicles in different localities in states and cities." It will give a boost to the EV Charging space and adoption of EVs in the .
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Serbia on Friday to discuss a tentative deal with the Balkan country to excavate lithium, a mega project that could reduce Europe's dependency on China but one that has been fiercely criticised by environmentalists and opposition groups. Germany, the largest carmaker in Europe, is seeking to secure lithium for its electric vehicle makers as the European Union struggles to reduce its dependence on imports from China. Lithium is a critical substance in making batteries for electric vehicles China currently dominates the supply chain for lithium-ion batteries. The excavation of lithium was back in the limelight after Serbia's constitutional court earlier this month overturned a previous ruling to cancel a USD 2.4 billion mining project launched by British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto in the western Serbian valley of Jadar, which is believed to be the largest lithium discovery in Europe. The Serbian government's decision to cancel the excavatio
The government on Saturday said India is expecting good response from many automobile companies on its electric-vehicle (EV) policy, which was released in March to attract global players like Tesla. Secretary in Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Rajesh Kumar Singh said that in the policy, the government has used tariff tweaks without actually spending any money to seek commitments from manufacturers to set up base in India. "Everybody talks about one company (US-based EV major Tesla), but we are expecting responses from many companies to that policy," Singh said here at CII's annual business summit. On March 15, the government approved an electric-vehicle policy, under which duty concessions will be given to companies setting up manufacturing units in the country with a minimum investment of USD 500 million, a move aimed at attracting major global players like Tesla. As per the policy, a company will get three years to set up manufacturing facilities i
The Biden administration is suggesting that additional tariffs could be put in place if the Chinese makers of electric vehicles try to move their production to Mexico to avoid newly announced import taxes. President Joe Biden on Tuesday directed the office of the U.S. Trade Representative to impose a total tariff in excess of 102% on Chinese EVs, as well as directing new tariffs on other products including steel, aluminum, computer chips and solar cells. But Chinese EV company BYD has previously indicated that it was looking at factory sites in Mexico for the Mexican market, creating a possible loophole to avoid the expanded tariffs. Asked at the White House news briefing about new tariffs should Chinese companies launch production in Mexico, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said, Stay tuned. Tai said that additional tariffs would require a separate pathway from the Section 301 review of the Trade Act of 1974. That four-year review led to the tariffs on $18 billion worth of
The new electric vehicle policy unveiled by the Indian government would encourage local production of premium electric cars in the country, a senior Audi AG executive said on Tuesday. Audi AG Vice-President, Sales Overseas, Andre Konsbruck said the Indian government is taking the right steps to accelerate the adoption of EVs in the country. "The government seems to be very committed to sustainability and to the electric future," he said in an interaction here while referring to the new electric policy. Konsbruck said that India is perhaps the first market where a specific regulation is targeted towards premium cars. "So it might really accelerate the localisation of premium electric cars, which will automatically then also drive the demand," he stated. Last week, the Indian government approved an EV policy, under which import duty concessions will be given to companies setting up manufacturing units in the country with a minimum investment of USD 500 million, a move aimed at ...
The government should not dilute Make in India initiative and follow a consistent policy, Ficci EV Committee Chairperson Sulajja Firodia Motwani said amid a push from American electric carmaker Tesla for special sops to set up its factory in the country. Motwani, the founder and CEO of Kinetic Green which sells battery-operated three-wheelers, scooters, e-cycles, and buggies, also emphasised creating a holistic ecosystem for the growth of the electric vehicle segment. She also batted for the continuation of incentives for buying EVs to sustain the demand for the next few years. Motwani also noted that the industry body is also pushing for the inclusion of electric cars priced up to Rs 20 lakh to get incentives under the third iteration of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (FAME) India scheme. "I strongly feel that the Make in India policies that the government has put in place, there should not be any reversal because now people have started ...
Delhi Transport Commissioner Ashish Kundra on Monday said the next electric vehicle policy will be focussed on enhancing the charging infrastructure and expanding the financing basket for rolling out purchase incentives. The EV policy expired on August 8 after which the Delhi government extended the Delhi Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy, 2020. Kundra was speaking at a summit on clean transport organised by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) along with the Indian G20 Secretariat. The commissioner said the government will now go in for an electrification target under which by 2025, 80 per cent of the bus fleet would be electric. He said that the newer vehicle segment that could be targeted in the next EV policy could be light and medium-duty trucks or goods vehicles that are into intra-city operations. "For instance, garbage tippers or tankers or even school buses could be thought of," he said at the event.