New Delhi: Electric vehicles (EVs) may be the buzzword in the automobile industry, but strong hybrid cars — powered by a petrol or a diesel engine and an electric motor — are also attracting buyers, as seen by the rise in sales.
Industry sales data shared with ThePrint shows that automobile makers sold 48,424 units of strong hybrid cars in the domestic market between October 2022 and May 2023, just about 600 units fewer than the 48,991 electric cars sold during the same period.
Experts from the industry told ThePrint that the demand for strong hybrids will continue to see an uptick due to factors such as lower acquisition cost compared to electric vehicles, reduced range anxiety and lack of charging infrastructure.
They added that strong hybrids are expected to play a key role in India’s transition from fossil fuel-powered vehicles to electric ones, while also helping build the manufacturing ecosystem for electric vehicles.
“Consumers are seeing hybrids as a better option. The sales of strong hybrid and electric vehicles are almost similar… and this is when there are only 3-4 strong hybrid models in the market today. As more models come in, the consumption will also go up,” Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director (marketing and sales), Maruti Suzuki, told ThePrint.
He added that sales of hybrid models, including Maruti’s Grand Vitara, were restricted because of semiconductor supply-related issues.
“Probably if supplies were better, sales of hybrids would have been more,” he said.
Maruti Suzuki, which is the biggest car maker in the country, currently offers the Grand Vitara in a strong hybrid variant.
According to data shared by Srivastava, the industry sold 14,928 EVs and 15,347 hybrids in October-December, 2022, 19,828 EVs and 22,389 hybrids in January-March, 2023, and 14,835 EVs and 10,688 hybrids in April-May of the current fiscal.
India currently has three automobile manufacturers — Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) and Honda Cars India — that have launched cars in the hybrid category and are expected to launch more models.
In the electric vehicle segment, there are manufacturers such as Tata Motors, which is the leader in EVs, MG Motor (also known as Morris Garages), Hyundai Motor India and BYD.
Also Read:‘Poor charging infrastructure, high prices’ — what’s putting the brakes on India’s 2030 EV target
Why are hybrids becoming popular?
Explaining the reasons for the popularity of strong hybrids, Srivastava said the main reason is that these vehicles are more affordable than EVs.
“For a gasoline-powered vehicle, an equivalent EV costs 1.5-1.7 times more, while an equivalent hybrid vehicle will cost 1.25-1.27 times more. Hence, the cost of acquiring a vehicle is lower,” he said.
The price difference between hybrid and electric vehicles is despite the fact hybrids attract a Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 28 per cent — same as petrol and diesel counterparts — while for electric vehicles the GST is 5 per cent.
Speaking to ThePrint earlier, Srivastava had said that the government should consider introducing a graded tax structure for passenger vehicles based on carbon emissions, and provide incentives on cleaner alternatives, such as CNG (compressed natural gas) and strong hybrids to promote green mobility in the country.
He also pointed out that while buying new vehicles, Indian consumers generally take into account the resale value of the new vehicle. But given that the EV market is still evolving, and there are very few such vehicles in the used-car market, there is uncertainty around the used-car value of EVs.
Besides that, there are issues related to lack of public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and a lack of dedicated parking space, which make home charging also a challenge for consumers — leading to ‘range anxiety’, he added.
Vikram Gulati, country head and executive vice-president corporate affairs and governance, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, added that hybrids — which operate in EV mode 60 per cent and have an internal combustion engine (ICE) as back-up — help address issues “for a consumer who otherwise may have a lot of concern around range when evaluating a technology like electric when moving away from traditional ICE.”
Strong hybrids come with regenerative braking systems where the kinetic energy from braking is converted into electrical power that charges the battery in the vehicle.
Reiterating that strong hybrids typically operate in EV mode 60 per cent of the time, Gulati said, “That is phenomenal, given the fact that the battery size of a hybrid is 1/40th or 1/50th of that of an electric vehicle… It has a combination of being cleaner, greener, more powerful and efficient.”
The available hybrid models in India claim to give a fuel efficiency of up to about 28 km/lt.
‘Hybrids not an alternative to EVs’
Despite the growing popularity of hybrid cars, Gulati stressed that they are not an alternative to electric vehicles, but are an important technology to help consumers move away from fossil fuels and reduce fossil fuel consumption.
He told ThePrint that hybrid cars have just entered the high-demand mass segment in India with models like Toyota Hyryder (B-SUV segment) and Hycross (Innova segment).
“So, this has really started to show in terms of numbers. Earlier, the hybrids that were being sold in India were in high-value niche segments with low volumes,” he added.
He pointed out that this trend was also seen in the BEVs (battery electric vehicles) where new cars were initially launched in niche segments. “But now, you have more models in BEV’s coming in and a lot of these are in the mass segments,” he said.
To summarise, the technology is now coming in segments, which have meaningful numbers, and hybrids have just begun their journey in India. And we are seeing very good acceptance, Gulati added.
Way ahead
Highlighting data from across the globe, Gulati said, the situation in India is no different from the world.
“If you look at Europe’s sales last year, of the total vehicles sold, 12 per cent were hybrids, 10 per cent were plug-in hybrids and 14 per cent were battery electric,” he said.
In the US, the mix last year was 6 per cent hybrids, 6 per cent BEVs and 1 per cent plug-in hybrids. In Japan, it was 38 per cent hybrids, 2 per cent battery electric and 1 per cent plug-in hybrids, he added.
Quoting data from a BNEF report, Gulati pointed out that globally, electrified vehicles, including BEVs, strong hybrids and plug-in hybrids, together contributed only 21 per cent of the total car sales in 2022.
“So fossil fuel-powered vehicles still account for about 80 per cent of sales. Of the 21 per cent electrified vehicles, 7 per cent are hybrids and 4 per cent plug-in hybrids,” he said.
“In India, where we have only 1-2 per cent share of all electrified vehicles, we need all technologies to tackle the problem of fossil-fuel consumption. They are complementary to each other,” he added
According to Gulati, hybrids are not only appealing for their “phenomenal” mileage, but also for their cleaner and convenient technology.
For Toyota, two of its models – Hyryder and Hycross — are also seeing high demand for the hybrid variant. While the company did not share the split for demand for ICE and hybrid variants, it said “majority demand is for hybrids”.
Interestingly, Toyota was the first company to introduce a hybrid in India with the Camry in 2013.
Gulati added that the increase in demand for hybrids can also help build the manufacturing ecosystem for electric vehicles and vehicles powered by fuel cell technology.
He explained the components of electric vehicles such as motors, batteries and cells, battery management systems and high voltage wiring are common with hybrids. The only difference is in terms of size.
“The most advanced clean technology today is Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) powered by hydrogen. In the FCEVS, the parts that go in are exactly the same as that in hybrids. So, in short, to summarise, the parts are common,” Gulati added.
“For India, to be able to localise (EVs) quickly without disruption, hybrids have a big role to play. The parts for hybrids and EVs are common,” he said.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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