Is Electric Car’s Purchase Restricted to Metro Cities Only?

Driving a car without the traditional fuel based system might bring in a lot of inhibition on the part of the Indian consumers; more so with respect to operational efficiency of such cars. The emergence of electric cars in the Indian market is an example of it. Unfamiliarity with the technology of an electric car and concern over the maintenance aspect of it is a big inhibition in the minds of the Indian consumers. The life of the battery of an electric car and the cost of replacing it further adds fuel to the fire. Keeping all these things into consideration, a pertinent question which arises here is that ‘Whether the Indian consumers across different types of cities will accept these electric cars or not?’ Or ‘whether the electric cars will remain restricted to the metro cities only?’ These questions are worth pondering over and have been taken up in this paper. Following which, it will give an insight about the preferences of purchasing an electric car across different city type and help the organizations in developing their marketing strategies to suit the disposable incomes of consumers across the diverse nature of these cities. The Indian Government is also providing tax relief on the purchase of electric cars under Section 80EEB of the Income Tax Act. Maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakh deductions can be claimed by the consumer on purchase of an electric car. Furthermore, the owners of the electric cars would have to pay no road tax. And on top of it, no greenhouse emissions will be produced as it is a non fuel based car. This is a win-win situation for the Indian consumers who not only benefit from the financial benefits but also from the health benefits. Hence acceptance of the electric cars will be more across different types of cities rather than being limited to one or few cities only. In other words, we can say that the Indian consumers are aware of the long term benefits of purchasing an electric car even though the initial cost of purchase might be high. And this is the reason that the Indian Government is giving subsidies to the consumers to purchase an electric car.