Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava: Hybrids Better Than EVs: What He Really Means

Maruti Suzuki is India’s largest car manufacturer. While they have a variety of models in their lineup in India, they are missing a pure electric vehicle. While Maruti has already showcased the eVitara, it has not been launched in our market yet. Recently, Maruti Suzuki’s Chairman, R.C. Bhargava, in an interview, said that hybrid cars are better than EVs. Why did he say so? Let’s find out.

While every car brand in the world is rushing towards making electric vehicles, Mr. Bhargava has a different opinion. He argues that India must not rush into making EVs, and in order to justify the statement, he puts out a bunch of reasons.

The first reason that Mr. Bhargava gives is because of the batteries. He mentions that every electric vehicle that is currently sold in India uses a battery that is imported from China. Batteries constitute around 40 percent of the cost of an EV. Currently, we are relying on China for this part, and this is extremely dangerous.

We have already started seeing rare earth material shortages in China, and this has also affected the production and launches of many EVs around the world. While India has started looking for alternate options, we are still far from becoming successful in this area. Mr. Bhargava says that until we have a permanent solution for this issue, it is a good idea to go slow on EVs.

The next point he puts forward is energy consumption. He mentions that India as a country is not generating excess power. If everyone starts using electric vehicles, the grid will start collapsing when they charge their vehicles. The reason behind this is that every house with an EV will need to have an additional load of seven and a half kilowatts minimum.

Even today, there are places where electricity is not available for hours during the day. The reason for such power cuts is the lack of electricity, and this issue will only intensify if all of us switch to EVs.

The reason why we are still unable to generate enough power for our people throughout the year is because we are still very dependent on fossil fuels. Thermal power plants use natural gas and coal to generate electricity. Only a small section of the electricity is generated from renewable energy sources.

The last reason why Mr. Bhargava asks to slow down the transition to EVs is because of the lack of clean energy. While EVs are non-polluting, the energy used to charge these vehicles comes from fossil fuels, and he feels EV usage should increase slowly as we start relying more on renewable energy sources.

Maruti, as we write this article, doesn’t have a single electric vehicle in their lineup, and it is convenient for Mr. Bhargava to speak in this manner. We recently came across a report that Maruti is already facing issues in the production of the eVitara EV due to rare earth material shortages from China. This is one of the reasons why we also feel he is promoting hybrids.

Maruti Suzuki, as a brand, is extremely popular among customers in India, and even today they are focused on their ICE range. Maruti is also working on a bunch of strong hybrid vehicles, and they are expected to be offered in the affordable segment.