Budget reaction quote from Mr. Sohinder Gill, Director General, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles

Mr. Sohinder Gill, Director General, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles: “After passing through a difficult period of lack of good quality” Made in India” EV components for the last 2 years, the local supply chains are beginning to take shape and the increase in customs duty on SKD/CBU is therefore timely as it will further incentivize the local suppliers because of the relative price advantage. There are still many a parts of EV componentry such as lithium cells, permanent magnets for electric motors, semiconductors, etc that will need to be imported and we expected rationalization of customs duty on such essential imports help keep the EV prices in check. The continuation of the customs duty-free status for machinery used to produce lithium-ion batteries could result in some stabilization in battery pricing.

A “Green Credit Programme” to promote behaviour change has been announced as another intriguing proposal. We are awaiting the fine print and anticipate that it will support the creation and uptake of EVs.

Promoting Hydrogen as a fuel for future is another great idea specially as India is having abundance of sunshine most part of the year and the majority of our goods are transported in heavy-duty trucks that cannot run on lithium batteries efficiently and in a cost effective manner. We believe both Hydrogen and Lithium batteries can co-exist as great clean fuels for the energy and transportation needs of the next few decades.”