Maruti Suzuki betting on hybrids over electric vehicles in clean shift

India's shift to electric vehicles is also much slower than other major markets like China and the US even though PM has committed to making India a net-zero carbon-emitting nation by 2070

RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. Photo: Bloomberg
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RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. Photo: Bloomberg

Ragini Saxena | Bloomberg
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the automaker that sells every other car on the nation’s roads, believes electric vehicles aren’t the answer to reducing carbon emissions in the world’s third-biggest releaser of greenhouse gases -- at least not in the immediate future.

India’s largest automaker reckons that vehicles powered by hybrid technology, natural gas and biofuels present a better path toward a cleaner future than electric cars considering the nation generates about 75% of its electricity from dirty coal, Chairman R.C. Bhargava said in an interview. 

“Talking about electric cars without looking at the greenness of the electricity generated in the country is an inadequate approach to this problem,” Bhargava said in an interview from his home in Delhi last week.

First Published: Jun 27 2022 | 08:52 AM IST

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