Maruti Suzuki e-Vitara flagged off by PM Modi in Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the e-Vitara, the first battery electric vehicle of India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. , in Gujarat on Tuesday.

Maruti Suzuki plans to manufacture 70,000 units of e-Vitara in FY26 at the Suzuki Motor Gujarat in Hansalpur, its Gujarat plant. The e-Vitara would be the first set of cars from the automaker that will be exported to over 100 countries around the world. These BEVs will initially be exported to the United Kingdom first, followed by other markets in Europe.

While the company has not specified how much percentage of these cars will be exported, it has said that a majority of the production will be earmarked for exports.

Although the Japanese carmaker has been late to the EV race, it is looking to leverage exports to become India’s top electric car manufacturer within a year. This is the first time that a global automobile giant like Suzuki has chosen India as the global manufacturing hub for EVs.

Suzuki has invested ₹21,000 crore in its Hansalpur plant, which has an annual production capacity of 7.50 lakh units.

PM Modi also inaugurated a lithium-ion battery cell and electrode factory, set up under a joint venture of Toshiba, Denso, and Suzuki, for strong hybrid electric vehicles (SHEVs).

Maruti Suzuki plans to launch six battery electric vehicles by FY31. The carmaker expects 15-20% of its sales to come from EVs by then. TDS Lithium Ion Battery Gujarat Pvt Ltd has been set up with a total investment of ₹4,267 crore

The plant will boost domestic manufacturing and ensure that more than 80% of the battery value will now be manufactured within India, a statement put out by the Prime Minister's Office said.

This comes only now because the country’s electricity cost is one of the cheapest around the world, making it a positive destination for EVs.

“India’s electricity price is much lower at ₹7-8 per kilowatt. Indian electricity prices are one-third of those in Japan. For customers, the running cost of EVs is much cheaper than normal ICE cars,” Hisashi Takeuchi, the managing director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki, told Fortune India earlier this year.

This comes days after PM Modi pointed out during a public address that India’s automobile exports have grown from around ₹50,000 crore annually in 2014 to ₹1.2 lakh crore last year.

While the e-Vitara is expected to be launched for the Indian market later this year, the company has said that it plans to establish an EV charging ecosystem to address pain points of customers. “We are going to eliminate customer concerns about EVs. For example, if the range anxiety is an issue for customers, the next new products we are going to introduce have long enough range which will eliminate customer concerns. We have a vast network of our sales touch points as well as service touch points in India. We are going to utilise those sales and service touch points for them to charge their EVs,” Takeuchi said earlier this year.

Battery-as-a-service or battery rental is one of the options to eliminate the customers’ pain points, the Maruti Suzuki MD & CEO had said. “By the time we introduce pricing, we will explain our solution for this also. The concern around residual value can be eliminated with BaaS,” he said. “We are thinking about how to eliminate consumer pain points and anxiety. Lowering the high upfront costs of EVs is one of the solutions.”