Green, Down The Road

While the Indian market is slowly embracing hybrids and electric vehicles, there is still a long way to go.

- Rachna Tyagi

While tennis ace Novak Djokovic, director Steven Spielberg and actors Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt and Ashton Kutcher drive a Tesla, actors Ryan Gosling and Sarah Jessica Parker drive a Toyota Prius. Actor Reese Witherspoon has a Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid, actor-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger a Cadillac Escalade Hybrid, actor Courteney Cox a BMW Active 7 Hybrid, musician Dave Matthews a Honda Insight Hybrid and singer Selena Gomez a Ford Escape Hybrid. And, in England, actor Kristin Scott Thomas drives a REVAi G-Wiz, similar to what for-mer Miss India Gul Panag drives in India—a Mahindra ego, powered by an electric motor, which runs on batteries.

At a time when many conversations revolve around global warming end deplet in natural resources, it is fly natural that talk turns to alternative sources of energy. And what better than plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs), which have their green credentials in place and are perfect city runabouts?

At the moment, though, India is yet to cotton on to these vehicles and there is no saying which way it will swing—towards hybrids or EVs. Indian companies, however, have been hard at work. Currently, Mahindra has about 6,000 electric vehicles on the road and an annual growth rate of 60 to 70 per cent, says Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric. While Mahindra's e2o has been on the road for about three years, it is now joined by three more EVs—e2o Plus, eVerito and eSupro. Besides, Mahindra has micro hybrid and full hybrid vehicles in the market and has already launched the micro-hybrid Scorpio. "But, given the pur-pose to develop sustainable mobility and tackle pollution, we believe EVs will lead the way," says Babu.