Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s incessant push on reforming India’s energy sector has started to bear fruit. Hero Moto Corp has emerged as a flag bearer of the success of PM Modi’s push towards increasing the number of green electric vehicles in the country.
Hero’s electric vehicles sales double:
The country’s largest electric two-wheeler company has revealed astounding data about the exponential rise in the sale of its electric vehicles. According to the data availed by the company, between the 45-day window of October 1 and November 15, 2021, the company sold 24,000 units of electric two-wheelers in the country.
The exponential rise in the number of sold vehicles is doubled if we compare it to year-on-year terms. During the same period in the year 2020, Hero was able to sell only 11,399 electric vehicles in the country. According to Sohinder Gill, CEO at Hero Electric described customers’ awareness towards the environment as a key factor behind the upsurge in sales.
Multiple factors underline Hero’s success:
In a statement to Hindustan Times, Gill said, “A significant percentage of customers chose Hero E bikes over the Petrol bikes and many factored environment and sustainability as influencing factors in their purchase,”. He further added that the lucrative offer being handed out by the company to its customers also played a key role in this achievement. The company is expanding its electrical vehicles’ and charging infrastructure in order to achieve its goal of selling its electric vehicles to 10 lakh customers.
Various other factors like rising fuel prices, the revival of the economy, emergence from the pandemic, a rising preference for electric two-wheelers, level playing fields for smaller electric vehicle sellers are one of the main reasons behind the rising sale of electric vehicles in India.
Synchronisation of PM Modi’s efforts and industry’s push towards electric vehicles:
Prime Minister Modi has taken various steps to improve the scenario of Electric vehicles’ movement in the country. In 2018 government had announced that it will exempt electric vehicles and CNG-powered vehicles from road permits. It also announced that CNG stations will be opened in 300 districts and many other non-fiscal incentives will be provided.
Read more: Government’s big push to promote Electric Vehicles in India
Whenever under pressure to manufacture EVs, automakers regularly complained that India has a shortage of semiconductor chips due to which they can’t produce EVs in large numbers. In June this year, the NDA government took it as a mission to solve the crisis. Prime Minister Modi announced an incentive of $1billion per company to promote chip manufacturing in the country. This incentive has led to healthy competition between multinational chief manufacturers and Indian giants like TATA.
As reported by the TFI, India is on the cusp of the electric vehicle revolution. Hero Motocorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of two-wheelers, is set to enter in electric vehicle market with the first launch by March 2022. In a statement to Hindustan Times, Niranjan Gupta, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Hero MotoCorp, said, “In keeping with its strategic vision ‐ Be The Future of Mobility’, Hero MotoCorp is steadily progressing on the path to carbon neutrality and sustainability and is investing in this transformation. The company is taking a comprehensive approach, ranging from research and development to production of green vehicles, which also includes forging strategic collaborations and partnerships.”
Read more: How Hero is winning hearts while Bajaj takes the whining route
With the Modi government’s emphasis on making the country self-dependent in the energy sector, various initiatives like Make-in-India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat are turning out to be game-changer. Moreover, the government’s insistence on providing result-based incentives (PLI scheme) to the company is helping the electric vehicle industry to not sit idle and improve their efficiency on a daily basis. Hero’s success is a shining example of that.