Nissan Motor Corporation is considering to locally manufacture electric vehicles in India, and is conducting research for the same. According to a report by ET Auto, the study will be concluded within a year and if the outcome of the study is according to the expectations of the company, it may give go ahead to manufacture of the electric vehicle in the country.
The Nissan’s EV namely LEAF has achieved a considerable amount of success and remains one of the first mainstream, mass-marketed electric vehicle. In addition to the LEAF, Nissan has got a line-up with Renault ZOE, the RSM SM3 Z.E, Renault City K-ZE and Twizy, Kangoo Z.E. and Master Z.E.
The automaker with its alliance partner Mitsubishi is also working on a small electric K car which may cost close to the price of a conventional gasoline car. The car may be considered to be launched in India as it may be suitable for price sensitive Indian market.
The purview of the study also includes Gigafactory for EV batteries. Nissan last week had announced plans to build a £1 billion “gigafactory” in Sunderland, U.K. If the study reports are positive the we may see such factories set up in India too. Gigafactories are essential to keep the price of electric vehicles affordable by mass producing batteries and maintain the supply demand balance as automakers look to to ramp up EV production.
The Indian government is working to increase local production of EVs and hence increasing the number of zero-emission vehicles in the country. The Minister of Road Transport had given a statement in which he said that the union government wants electric vehicles to form 30% of all private cars, 70% of commercial vehicles, 40% of buses and 80% of two- and three-wheeler sales by 2030.
The government has also laid down some favourable policies, such as reducing goods and services tax on EVs to 5%, besides other incentives.
