Drawbacks and problems of Electric two wheeler customers and admirers in India.

 

Drawbacks and problems of Electric two wheeler customers and admirers in India.





BY    AFZAL YOUSAF


Electric Two wheelers are booming in India and two wheelers being the most common vehicle, their electric counterpart is playing key role in electrifying the vehicles in Indian roads. As per the Industry body society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles, EV sales excluding e-rickshaws, grew 20% and around 1.56 lakh EVs were sold in 2019-20 and Electric two wheelers accounted for the 97.5% of all EVs sold.

In this article you can read the problems/hurdles of electric two wheeler users and admirers in India.

Based on the feedback from the electric bike users, one of their major concern is Lack of service and maintenance support from the dealer/company. Even though exceptions are there, most dealers are taking more than enough time to diagnose and rectify the fault. It may be due to lack of skilled technicians in service centres and technicians may not have given proper training and knowledge about battery and electronics components.

This is the situation when  customer can only depend on service centres because unlike IC Engine two wheelers, local workshops or mechanic will not be able to repair electric bike unless it's a mechanical fault. This lack of technical knowledge and service support is the result of importing china made or other country made e bikes  and selling here. Also assembling imported parts and making electric bikes also cause this issue. 

As a glimpse of hope, Many companies have started to develop indigenous electric bikes. Ather, Revolt, Hero, TVS, Bajaj are some of them. This will be huge boost for Indian EV segment as big companies comes on the track, people's trust in EV increases.

India should develop or acquire the technology of electric vehicles from the core to make people trust on EVs and spend their money on them. Govt. should encourage and support R&D in EV Technology and EV Startups, to make roots of EV Technology stronger like IC Engine vehicles.

Even though battery technology is improving, range still remains a concern for electric two wheelers. Most of e bikes offer range hardly 100 km and its not up to the customer expectation. And the worst part is overall range reduces after few years as battery pack performance fades over time. Top speed offered is also not entertaining the users and ev enthusiasts.

Also many customers are complaining they are not getting range claimed by the companies even in their first six months. This may be because range claimed by the companies depends on various other parameters which is unclear to customers. And in common people's perspective, while comparing price and features, Electric two wheelers doesn't have value for money because they can get better IC engine version with lesser price.

Electric two wheeler charging is not a big concern because most of them support domestic charging. But charging duration is not up to customer expectations and they need fast charging without further increase in overall cost of the vehicle. Also choice of electric two wheelers is limited compared to IC Engine.

In India, if we wish to take a vehicle, usually takes suggestions from our kith and kin. But in case of electric vehicle it may not be effective because EVs are new for everyone. Also its not easy for common people to take expert advice to buy electric two wheelers. Safety concern is also there among people whether we can use electric two wheelers in water logged or flood situations. Proper knowledge should be there among people to overcome all this hurdles.

Lot of Drawbacks and concerns are there in EV adoption and it is clear that we have still a long way to go. But the good part is technology and situation is changing very fast in favour of electric vehicles. Also govt. is taking EV adoption seriously for a sustainable and cleaner future.

This article is based on user and EV enthusiast feedbacks and our research. Share your thoughts and join with our conversation. Keep Reading.

 





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