The managing director of Bajaj Auto has taken a hard stance against the government's proposal of making all three-wheelers go electric by 2023, and two-wheelers below 150 cc by 2025, saying it is unrealistic considering a large portion of the country is still without electricity
Rajiv Bajaj doesn’t believe in mincing words. Expressing strong displeasure over the proposed move by the government to make all three-wheelers go electric by 2023, and two-wheelers below 150 cc to switch to the electric mode by 2025, the managing director of Bajaj Auto has termed the move ‘foolhardy.’
“Putting any deadline to something that none of the stakeholders have any meaningful experience with is not courageous but foolhardy,” says Bajaj. The primary issue, he stresses, is not whether the deadline is five years or 15 years. “The deadline is unrealistic,” he says. “When we have not been able to provide a large section of our people with electricity in 70 years, how we will move all of them to EVs in less than seven years beats me.”
Taking a hard stance against the proposal, Bajaj reckons that hasty implementation might lead to poor quality of product and infrastructure, which, in turn, could put off customers forever. “It will take only a few batteries to explode at 50 degrees celsius for this to happen,” he sounds a word of caution. “A desk,” he cites British author John Le Carre, known for espionage novels, “is a dangerous place from which to view the world.”
When we have not been able to provide a large section of our people with electricity in 70 years, how we will move all of them to EVs in less than seven years beats me
(This story appears in the 21 June, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)