JSW Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra open to extended-range hybrids if EV incentives widen

Homegrown carmakers JSW Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) are open to adopting range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs) if India’s policy framework expands incentives beyond pure electric vehicles, even as experts warn against equating the technology with battery-electric cars.REEVs, also called REX (range extender) hybrids, are always driven by an electric motor but carry a small internal combustion engine (ICE) whose sole role is to generate electricity when the battery charge runs low. Comparatively, strong hybrids have both an electric battery and a powerful ICE engine, both of which can run the vehicle.To be sure, no carmaker in India manufactures or sells REEVs currently.

Strong hybrid vehicles are on offer from Japanese carmakers such as Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Maruti Suzuki India and Honda Cars India.Discussions on the viability of REEV technology gained momentum after Indian industry lobby Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) proposed taxing them at 5%, on par with EVs, in November. Then, in December, American carmaker Ford Motor Co.

announced a pivot to hybrid vehicles, including REEVs.Under the super credit regime of the proposed corporate average fuel efficiency (Cafe III) norms, one REEV will be counted as three cars, just like EVs.Nalinikanth Gollagunta, chief executive-automotive division at M&M, told Mint in an interview on the sidelines of the XEV 9S launch in November that EV and internal combustion engine (ICE) are at two ends of the spectrum, in which a hybrid is just an upgrade from an ICE, while a REX is just a downgrade from an EV.“At this point in time, we're focused on EV because the entire regulatory policy system is focused on EV. Going to REX is an optionality we