India lacks ecosystem for electric cars, says Volkswagen official

Ahmedabad: India does not have a "clear vision" and "ecosystem" in place for the promotion of electric cars, a senior official of European car manufacturer Volkswagen said here on Monday.

"India needs to have a political framework and a clear vision for electric cars. The vision is loose. For (promotion of electric cars), there has to be a lot of subsidies," director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars (India), Steffen Knapp, said here.

Knapp, who was here to mark the company's 10 years of its association with Automark Motors, one of its leading dealers in the country, said it does make sense for the company to sell electric cars in India in the absence of a clear vision on part of the government.

He said government will require to give a lot of subsidies to make it viable for the company to invest in electric cars in India. "There needs to be a clear guidance. We are not in a position at the moment. It is about standardisation of charging stations, which is not clear," he said. He said the industry representatives are in talks with the government regarding the same and things are in process.

"Our concept for going from classical combustion diesel and petrol engine to electrified car is really massive. We will launch in coming years around 70 (electric vehicle) products," Knapp said.

He also said that the company has announced Rs 8,000 crore investment for development in Indian products in the next five years. "The first product will come out in 2020. In July we had announced the investment. He said a development centre is coming up in Jharkhand which will manufacture compact SUVs, which he said is the fastest growing segment.