Castrol has recently conducted a new study that reveals some of the factors which most Indian drivers would consider before switching to an EV. the new study draws on the views of consumers, fleet managers and automotive industry leaders from across India to reveal the factors driving EV buying decisions. 

According to the new study, on average for consumers in India, a price point of ₹23,00,000 (or $31,000), a charge time of 35 minutes and a range of 401 kilometers (from a single charge) represent the ‘tipping points’  to achieve mainstream EV adoption. The research also estimates that the annual EV market in India could be worth $2 billion by 2025 if all three tipping points are met, pointing to a possible EV-powered low-carbon recovery for the automotive industry.
Based on research from eight of the world’s most important EV markets, Castrol’s study examines five critical challenges that should be addressed to promote further growth in the EV market - highlighting the differing priorities for consumers and fleet managers. 
Key findings from the opinion research, which was conducted from December 2019 to January 2020, include:
 
EV sales to power up in 2022
On average, consumers in India said they would consider purchasing an EV by 2022. This is two years earlier than the global average (2024). However, two thirds (67%) of consumers in India said they are adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach. Over 40% of fleet managers said they are waiting for competitors to make the switch before they do.
 
Affordability is a deal breaker
Price is the number one priority for consumers in India with 67% of those surveyed saying that EVs are currently beyond their budget. The ₹23,00,000 (or $31,000) ‘tipping point’ for consumers in India is lower than the global average of ₹27,00,000 (or $36,000).
 
The study also finds that misconceptions about maintenance costs could be stopping consumers making the switch: 83% of Indian consumers say that these costs were preventing them from buying a fully electric car. This suggests that many consumers are unaware that the overall average cost of ownership of an EV over its lifetime tends to be lower than an ICE vehicle.
 
Need for instant recharge
Charge time was identified as the second most important challenge to the mainstream adoption of EVs, and consumers in India said they require an average charge time of 35 minutes before they would consider purchasing an EV. This is several minutes longer than the global average of 31 minutes. Nearly three quarters (72%) of those questioned believe EVs will only dominate on the roads once they can charge in a similar amount of time as it takes to refuel an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. 
 
Call for higher range per charge
Range was ranked third on the priority list, with 64% of Indian drivers agreeing it is a significant barrier to mainstream adoption of EVs. On average, they expect a range of 401 km (from a single charge), approximately equivalent to the distance between Ahmedabad and Indore. This is significantly lower than the global ‘tipping point’ range of 469 km. However, around a third of drivers in India said they mainly use their car for commuting or short journeys, so this suggests that ‘range anxiety’ may only be partly driving their preference.
 
Mandhir Singh, chief executive officer at Castrol said: “The automotive industry has already demonstrated what it can achieve in response to the coronavirus crisis, turning its capabilities to producing much needed medical equipment. With EV technology constantly improving, the challenge now will be to drive a low-carbon recovery and accelerate the EVolution as quickly as possible. Castrol has been working with the automotive industry to develop unique e-Fluid technology to support EVs, from battery coolant e-fluid, e-greases and transmission fluids.
 
Bringing down the cost and charge time for electric vehicles while increasing range, infrastructure and vehicle choice will be critical to persuading consumers to make the switch to EVs.”

Sandeep Sangwan, managing director at Castrol India Ltd said: “Castrol’s global research shows that consumers are positive about making the switch to electric; buyers in India are keen to do so earlier than those in other markets. Although consumers in India are seeking a lower price point than consumers in other countries, they are also willing to accept a slightly longer charge time and a slightly shorter range. These market-specific nuances are important; Accelerating the EVolution provides a clear roadmap for the industry to help support the transition to accelerate mainstream adoption of EVs in India and around the world.”

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Coretura, a 50:50 joint venture between Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, has entered into an engineering agreement with Accenture to accelerate the development of a software platform for commercial vehicles.

The company, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, currently employs over 100 engineers. It continues to recruit specialists in system architecture, high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure to support its roadmap, which targets the delivery of its first commercialised products towards the end of the decade.

Coretura intends to create a single software platform, language and standard for trucks, buses and other heavy-duty transport vehicles. The platform is designed to support vehicle lifecycles of more than 15 years, moving the industry away from projects that require custom software development for each new vehicle.

As the engineering partner, Accenture will support development across several areas, including:

• Electrical and Electronic (E/E) architecture
• Software abstraction and hardware integration
• Embedded software, middleware, and cybersecurity
• Functional safety and cloud infrastructure

The platform aims to provide a reusable software stack to lower costs and standardise time-to-market for global manufacturers. For fleet operators, the system is designed to allow for continuous software updates and performance upgrades delivered over the air.

Johan Lunden, CEO, Coretura, said, “Our purpose is to advance mobility at the speed of ideas, and that takes depth. Building a full-stack SDV platform demands expertise across embedded software, middleware, cybersecurity, and functional safety, all designed for vehicles with lifecycles measured in decades. Accenture’s reinvention capabilities let us move faster without compromising the standards our customers depend on. This is acceleration, not course correction.”

Rainer Oder, SDV Embedded Software Lead, Accenture, added, “Helping the industry advance software-defined vehicles is a priority for Accenture. Our landmark collaboration with Coretura is designed to change embedded software engineering for automotive platforms. Together, we are looking to solve the challenges of a fully software-defined architecture – addressing critical areas such as hardware abstraction, API management and AI-based engineering optimisations.”

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The ePlane Company has announced the completion of its full-scale electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the e200X. Designated PT-01, the prototype has successfully integrated all core subsystems into a single structure, marking the transition from design and simulation to physical testing.

The e200X is designed as a single airframe versatile enough to serve three distinct markets – Passenger Air Taxi, Urban Cargo Carrier and Air Ambulance.

The company emphasises that the aircraft was designed to be compact, allowing it to integrate into existing urban infrastructure without requiring significant city redesigns.

Developed at the company's own facilities in Chennai, the e200X features in-house development of major components, including propellers, airframe structure, landing gear and battery pack.

This vertical integration provides the company with control over performance, manufacturing costs, and iteration speed, having reached this milestone on approximately USD 21 million in funding.

With assembly complete, the e200X will now undergo ground testing, flight testing and certification.

Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder, The ePlane Company, said, "We set out to build an electric aircraft to a world-class benchmark, engineered and manufactured in depth in India for the World.  We deliberately designed the e200X to be compact, because an aircraft that asks a city to rebuild itself around it will not solve the problem it was built to solve. The same airframe can move people as an air taxi, carry goods as a cargo aircraft, and save lives as an air ambulance, and it can do all three using the infrastructure cities already have. That combination of real capability and capital efficiency is how we intend to compete, and win, in markets around the world.”

The company’s board includes prominent figures such as Vishesh Rajaram (Speciale Invest), Eash Sundaram (JetBlue) and Aditya Ghosh (Homage, Akasa Air). The venture, incubated at IIT Madras, has also received international recognition, including being showcased at Bharat Innovates 2026 and featured in Nvidia Founder Jensen Huang’s GTC keynote.

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Chinese technology company Xiaomi has marked a new milestone for its automotive product offering with its electric vehicle.

The company has announced a significant milestone in autonomous vehicle technology by completing the first official autonomous lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany with the Xiaomi YU7 GT, equipped with a Track Package, navigating the 20.8 km circuit without a human driver, recording a lap time of 10:29.483.

Following this performance, the Nurburgring has introduced a new official vehicle category: Autonomous Driving (under Electric Vehicles).

The Xiaomi YU7 GT autonomously navigated all 73 corners of the Nordschleife, managing 300 metres of elevation change and varying road surface conditions. The performance was driven by Xiaomi’s autonomous driving system, which integrates the Xiaomi XLA architecture and the MiMo-Embodied foundation model introduced in March 2026. The end-to-end architecture enabled the vehicle to coordinate steering, braking and power delivery in real-time, maintaining stability under high-speed and high-load conditions.

Xiaomi’s autonomous driving programme has evolved since the 2024 launch of Xiaomi HAD. The current system moves beyond simple behaviour imitation toward autonomous decision-making and deeper environmental interpretation. The company stated that the Nurburgring project serves as a critical testing ground to collect data for refining vehicle dynamics modelling, control strategy optimisation and safety redundancy mechanisms.

This achievement underscores Xiaomi’s commitment to advancing artificial intelligence in the automotive sector through rigorous real-world validation.

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QuantumScape Corporation has announced a multi-year joint research agreement with Honda R&D Co., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co.

The collaboration focuses on advancing QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal battery platform, including the development of associated manufacturing processes.

This agreement follows a successful technology evaluation period during which Honda conducted a technical study and competitive benchmarking of QuantumScape’s battery platform.

Atsushi Ogawa, Chief Operating Officer, Research Center of Excellence, Honda R&D Co, said, “QS technology demonstrated compelling and unique advantages during our evaluation. We see potential for QS technology to add value across a range of applications, including automotive, and we are excited to move forward into the next phase of our partnership.”

Dr. Siva Sivaram, CEO and President, QuantumScape, added, “Honda is a leading global automaker renowned for its engineering excellence and product quality across automotive and other applications worldwide, and its evaluation represents one of the most rigorous assessments of our technology to date. This agreement reflects the growing confidence in QS solid-state lithium-metal batteries to enable safer, higher-density energy storage.”

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