Electric vehicles have strong potential in India and it can co-exist with petrol/diesel-powered vehicles

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as a better personal transportation in the country, according to R Chandramouli, president- sales and marketing, Reva Electric Car Company.

"Electric vehicles are yet to come of age to replace conventional gasoline-power vehicles in India. However, people will increasingly prefer electric vehicles as their second purchase and electric vehicles take over as a daily commuting mode in the cities," he said addressing the Frost & Sullivan seminar on Growth, innovation and Leadership in Bangalore.

The key challenge lies in making the product affordable and reliable. Chandramouli said that viable business models such as battery leasing, pay-per-use, maintenance of batteries during the lease, among others would drive growth for electric vehicles. “Battery leasing will make the electric vehicles more affordable to a larger segment of people due to flexibility of monthly payments for battery,” he added.

The electric vehicles industry in India was estimated at 1.1 lakh units in 2008-09. According to Frost and Sullivan estimates, the electric vehicle market is forecast to grow to 1.2 million globally by 2015 driven by oil price uncertainties, government support and technology breakthroughs. The rapid growth in this segment is expected to come after 2011.

In Asia Pacific region, while China and Japan will be the key markets for electric vehicles, India is expected to emerge as a major market in the future.

One of the major challenges facing the industry is the standardization besides charging station infrastructure.