Maruti Suzuki Convey The Strength Of Their Diversified Strategy At FICCI Electric Mobility | V3Cars

15 June 2023
By Mahesh Yadav
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Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) recently organised an Electric Mobility roundtable in New Delhi. Maruti Suzuki sponsored the event and Mr. Rahul Bharti represented India’s largest carmaker at the forum. In stark contrast to the theme of the event, in his speech, Mr. Bharti, executive director of corporate affairs at Maruti Suzuki, underscored the need to not marry the idea of electric mobility to achieve the goal of sustainable mobility. In this article, we’ll give you a quick overview of his speech at the FICCI’s electric mobility conference.

Diversify Approach Towards Sustainable Mobility

A critical point Mr. Bharti from Maruti Suzuki raised at the forum was about sustainability. Going against the grain at the Electric Mobility roundtable, Mr. Bharti underscored the importance of keeping our eyes open for any alternative new-age technologies to help us cut emissions. He said that we should not remain committed to one technology, in this case, electric vehicles, and remain oblivious to other alternatives.

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Maruti Suzuki’s investments in other greener fuels and propulsion technologies showcases their approach with diversification. They are working on the following alternative fuels for the coming decade:

H-CNG (Maruti Suzuki Working On Hydrogen CNG (H-CNG) Engines)
Bio CNG (Suzuki Sign MoU With NDDB, Banas Dairy To Explore Bio CNG As Fuel)
Biofuel/Flex Fuel (E85) (2023 Auto Expo - Maruti Suzuki Showcase Wagon-R Flex Fuel)
Hydrogen Fuel Cell (Possible through technology sharing with Toyota)
Hydrogen Combustion (Possible through technology sharing with Toyota)
Petrol-hybrid (Currently in portfolio)

Regardless of which of these investments pay off in the long run, they’re ready to route resources in that direction and pivot. Meanwhile, Mahindra and Tata have ruled out petrol-hybrid powertrains. Along with electric vehicles, Tata Motors are exploring hydrogen combustion (HCE) and fuel cell (FCV) propulsion technologies.

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Commitment To Electric Vehicle Ecosystem

Despite a strong focus on alternative technologies to curb emissions, Maruti Suzuki reiterated their commitment to electric mobility. Mr. Bharti informed the participants that Maruti Suzuki have 6 electric vehicles lined up for the Indian market.

Along with that, Maruti Suzuki also have a battery cell manufacturing plant up and running. It’s also supporting local employment and exporting lithium batteries to western European countries. They have also started work on their second batter plant.

They’re also committed to long-term environmental goals and have already engineered ways to extract up to 85% lithium out of discarded lithium batteries.

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Commitment To Cater To ICE Car Buyers And Owners

Mr. Bharti reminded the forum members about the optimistic views about electric vehicle adoption in the coming years. Various researchers and surveys suggest a 20 - 50% penetration of electric vehicles among new vehicle buyers by 2030. Mr. Bharti promised to support this large portion of car buyers and owners who would still prefer internal combustion cars due to the nature of their requirements and usage patterns.