[sri_tesla]

In another somewhat related news, Suzuki and Toyota just entered into an MOU to introduce electric vehicles in India by 2020. As per MOU, Suzuki will produce produce EVs for the Indian market and will supply some to Toyota, while Toyota is to provide technical support.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/61687544.cms

[RavenAvi]

Toyota & Suzuki have announced that they have signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) for developing a joint strategy to introduce EVs (electric vehicles) in India by 2020.

The terms of the MoU state that Suzuki will produce EVs for the Indian market and will supply some to Toyota, while the latter will provide technical support for the electric models.
Both brands have also planned to conduct a comprehensive study for the widespread acceptance and use of EVs in India. This includes concerns about the establishment of charging stations, human resources development that includes training for after-service technicians and systems for the appropriate treatment of burnt out batteries.
On September 14, 2017, Suzuki Motor Corp laid the foundation stone for the country’s first lithium-ion battery plant at Hansalpur, Gujarat. The facility is set to begin operations from 2020. The manufacturing operation will utilise cell modules from Toshiba, while Denso will contribute its expertise by sharing the technology platform. The battery joint venture sees the equity stake split between Suzuki (50%), Toshiba (40%) and Denso (10%).
The companies will also look to locally produce and source all the components required including the battery pack, electric motors and other essential parts. Achieving a high level of localisation from the very start will help the manufacture and sale of EVs at affordable prices.

Autocar Professional

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, Sri_Tesla! Considering the importance of this development, I'm moving it into a new thread.

Suzuki's tying up with Toyota was a master-class move. The former is too small to develop future tech on its own, while Maruti's success in India makes Toyota's mouth water. Access to Toyota's tech might have just saved Maruti-Suzuki from being disrupted.

[volkman10]

Here is the official joint release by Toyota - Suzuki,

Suzuki will produce electric vehicles for the Indian market, with technical support from Toyota. Some of these EVs will be supplied to Toyota as well. What this means is that the Suzuki and Toyota EVs will essentially be the same, save for the badging and a few styling bits to differentiate the cars.

Not clear though is whether the Suzuki cars will be re-badged as Toyota for exports.

[nug1]

Good and timely move by Maruti to be ready for electrification of vehicles in India. Maruti have been leaders in this market and need to have strong EV offering to maintain this leadership as inevitable change is being driven by government for non-polluting vehicles. They pioneered in Indian market with ideas on small cars, AMT etc and this move should help retain their position.

[ramgkulkarni]

Yes Toyota and Suzuki are officially planning on collaborating to bring EVs to Indian market. Suzuki will be using the new plant in Gujrat for battery Manufacturing.

This has to be the best news on the internet today. The possibilities of Suzuki making affordable EVs are limitless. Tesla sold expensive cars to be able to produce mass market cars. Suzuki along with Toyota don’t have to go through this ordeal.

If things go any better, we can be seeing an electric car revolution under a decade in this country. Government decision making will now be very crucial. Although EVs will not be cheap, Govt have to give incentives and prepare the infrastructure for this.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Suzuki will produce electric vehicles for the Indian market, with technical support from Toyota.

100 bucks says the EVs will first be sold through Nexa .

Maruti's job is made easy as all it has to do is rely on Toyota for EV technology; Toyota is now heavily focusing on electrification (after years of putting efforts on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles).

Knowing Maruti & how it stays one step ahead of the game, they must have already started thinking about providing charger installations at customer homes, tying up with someone for public charging infrastructure etc.

[Rajeevraj]

I guess if this works out as planned , then the skepticism around India going all electric by 2030 will need to be revisited. If Maruti starts on a drive towards this, then we are pretty much half way there. Of course , we know from past experiences that Maruti will not do any half measures. As GTO mentioned they will definitely make sure an end to end ecosystem is in place.

[speedmiester]

Having used the E2O for over 2 years and fro over 25K kms in Bangalore, I look forward to Suzuki and Toyota launching the EVs in India.
I have suffered through E2O's bad build quality, but on the other hand the eVerito feels good to drive and feels like a proper car unlike E2O.

The need of the hour is an EV with a minimum 200Km range with a top speed of atleast a 100KMPH. The limited speed of 80KMPH in E2O can be quite dangerous while overtaking on the highways.

[autorahul]

Originally Posted by GTO

100 bucks says the EVs will first be sold through Nexa .
...
Knowing Maruti & how it stays one step ahead of the game, they must have already started thinking about providing charger installations at customer homes, tying up with someone for public charging infrastructure etc.

I won't be surprised if they went ahead and created another brand of outlets for EVs!

Just yesterday we had news of IOCL and HPCL collaborating with Ola to start charging stations. I won't be surprised if Maruti taps in one of the major OMCs for the same. My bet would be IOCL as they have previously successfully collaborated on Servo products too.

Now it looks like all major manufacturers have their hands dipped on EV market. Maruti-Toyota, Mahindra and Tata have publicly announced their plans. Ford has tie up with Mahindra.

What I would like to see is initiatives from Nissan-Renault and Honda. Apart from Toyota these are the 2 manufacturers who have been working on EV. Nissan in particular has been quite successful through Nissan Leaf.

Hyundai and (its soon to enter India sibling) Kia are conspicuously missing. For Kia in particular this could be a good move to straight away concentrate on EVs in India and face less competition than the cut-throat regular market.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by autorahul

For Kia in particular this could be a good move to straight away concentrate on EVs in India and face less competition than the cut-throat regular market.

That will be a masterstroke movement - establishing the Kia brand in India through "low-cost" EVs, with cars in the 8-15L range.

Originally Posted by autorahul

I won't be surprised if Maruti taps in one of the major OMCs for the same.

The problem I foresee about these public charging stations is the possibility of long queues in front of it that may cause traffic disruptions. For a reference, the Tesla Super chargers takes 75 minutes to charge full. That's a big number if you are on the street.

Home "super" charging is the best option, but if you drain out your battery on the road, these "super chargers" are unavoidable.

Solution?
Hybrids?
Solar "roof" chargers?
Stepney battery (essentially 2 set of batteries and 2 chargers)?

[AltoLXI]

Things are getting interesting with governments and car companies getting serious about the reduction of fossil fuel based cars.

1. Though the time frame when we may see all EVs on the road is still afar ( 10-15 years should be reasonable), what will be the effect on the cars that are already on the road?
2. What will be the effect of the sales / resales of the fossil fuel based cars in near future? If the government sticks to the ambition of only EVs from 2030, from the users point of view, should they go ahead with buying the current generation cars?

[volkman10]

Toyota has signed a MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government to transform its new capital into a smart city.

the officials chose Amaravathi as Andhra Pradesh's new capital. It's a small town by the banks of the river Krishna, and geographically equidistant from Vijayawada and Guntur.

The carmaker will carry out a feasibility study with the Prius plug-in hybrid and a compact electric car in mind.

The small electric city car will most likely come out of the Toyota-Suzuki joint venture.


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[Shome]

Noob question, EV means complete Electric, right? Or are we talking about some level of hybrid vehicles where more preference is towards Electric than fossil fuel. I think there was some discussion around the govt not subsidizing hybrids anymore but I also assume that EVs will not be subsidized either.

[volkman10]

Maruti Suzuki starts its journey to manufacturing affordable electric cars in India - clearly states that it will not sell electric cars at a loss. BEV''s may not match the price of the current cars.

don’t see battery-driven cars becoming cheaper than fossil fuel cars for a long time

India being a price sensitive market there needs to be a way to make electric cars affordable and also that such cars have to be the way the consumer wants it.

electric Tata Tigor which bagged the Energy Efficiency Services Limited’s (EESL) 10,000 units order. Priced at Rs 11.35 lakh the Tigor EV is priced more than twice compared to its petrol-powered variant

Will focus on customer- centric needs,

survey will try to find out what do buyers think about electric cars, where could they charge such a car, do they have a charging station at home, how will they compare it with petrol/diesel powered cars.

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