MUMBAI: Taking on Maruti Suzuki and Toyota who have been campaigning for incentives for hybrids, Tata Motors on Wednesday said any such benefits will be “regressive and waste of govt money” and will “slow down the pace of EV adoption” in the country while making the vehicles globally uncompetitive.
“You can’t confuse the country. From a tech perspective, incentivising hybrids is a regression for the country and makes us globally uncompetitive… Do you want the country to go slow on zero emissions tech? Is that the direction you want to set?” Tata Motors MD for passenger cars and EVs Shailesh Chandra told TOI when asked about demands being made by companies such as Maruti, Toyota and Honda for incentives on hybrids.
Tata on Wednesday drove in the Curvv EV with an entry price of Rs 17.5 lakh (ex-showroom), and will also launch petrol and diesel versions of the vehicle soon.
Chandra said electrics are a must for companies to adhere to CAFÉ norms. “To meet net zero emissions target for every company and the country, you have to have a razor sharp focus — which is a movement towards EVs,” he said, terming hybrid “as a technology that only makes internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles achieve better fuel efficiency, but not zero emissions.”
The central govt has given a subsidised 5% GST tax rate for electrics, while fixing over 44% GST for petrol, diesel, hybrids and other larger cars.
Companies asking for incentives for hybrids, primarily the Japanese carmakers (Maruti is majority owned by Japan’s Suzuki), have been asking for incentives too, saying the technology helps reduce CO2 emissions over conventional cars while giving better fuel efficiency. UP govt recently paid heed to their demands by doing away with registration taxes on hybrids.
Chandra said hybrid is an over two decades old technology, and is being used by some carmakers only because they are yet not ready with electrics and want to meet the fleet emission compliance standards.
“Why would somebody regress the country to something which is old and transient? Hybrids are being pursued by players who are under pressure to meet the CAFÉ mandates and are also late in introducing EVs,” he said, adding, “We should not be wasting govt money for this.”
Also, he said car companies selling hybrids enjoy healthy margins on them due to good customer demand, and thus do not need govt support. On the other hand, companies selling EVs are subsidising their margins to encourage customers, while also aiding in the setting up of the requisite infrastructure.
“I am not earning from EVs, but I am still trying to drive in price parity. I am sacrificing my margins to make the zero emissions technology work. But in hybrids, companies are already earning money, but still want govt support.”
He said that hybrids should not be “confused” with EVs. “Just because it uses motor and a minuscule battery and gives higher fuel efficiency than traditional ICE doesn’t make the hybrids as clean as EVs.”