With the continuous push for electrification by the Government of India (GoI), one untapped section is the off-road transport sector which is mostly the agriculture industry. The cumulative EV sales in India touched 41,35,077 units by the end of FY2024. The GoI has initiated several schemes such as PM E-DRIVE, PLI, Fame 1 & 2, and EMPS, to boost the electric vehicle adoption in the country. Electrification is the trend in India, but the agriculture sector remains untouched because of its prevailing challenges.Annual sales of electric vehicles (EV) surpassed 1.7 million vehicles in FY2024, with more than 55% of the share accounted for by registered electric two-wheelers (E2W), followed by passenger electric three-wheeler (E3W P), stated JMK Research and Analysis report.
“I think most manufacturers, including us, have started to explore the potential of the electric tractor,” said a top official of VST Group.
Improved scenario in the coming decade
With extensive technological development and emphasis on improved battery capacities with local manufacturing, Arun Surendra, Chairman & MD at VST Group believes electric tractor adoption will be seen in the coming 5 years. “If you look at a five-year horizon, I think there will be a substantial percentage of sales in the e-tractor space,” he added.
India despite being the largest manufacturer of tractors in the world is still away from observing the electrification trend. This can also be the bottleneck for the slow progress of the country’s 2030 EV vision. Several companies have started their work for the same, the list includes AutoNxt, VST, Sonalika Tractors, Mahindra Tractors, and many more.
VST Group has an extensive portfolio in the auto industry including financing, automotive franchise, and manufacturing of small tractors, tillers, and agriculture implements. The company has made a bid to bring electrification in tractors through its collaboration with US-based company, Monarch Tractors.
The company (under this JV) which manufactures the tractors completely in India except its batteries for its exports to different countries was eyeing to bring this technology into the country. However, Surendra believes India is slightly behind in the race and needs some time to catch up.
“If Indian farmers decide to move to this (e-tractors)..I think the scale-up will be very quick…But I don’t think the Indian farm industry is ready to accept electric tractors in a large volume,” he added.
“The challenges for the adoption of nationwide electric tractors are unavailability of charging infrastructure, high initial ownership, high power requirement, and inadequate financing availability,” stated Kaustubh Dhonde, Founder and CEO at AutoNxt Automation.
A push from the government
Off-road transportation push by the GoI is a crucial step that requires attention, believes industry experts. However, Surendra believes the step should not only be subsidies or monetary benefits but more than that. “So rather than bringing a direct subsidy onto the product, I think the government working with the industry to help keep the cost of raw material more fair, maybe a better way to go about it,” he added.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari during the MSME conference and exhibition organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), emphasised to tractor manufacturers for switching to alternatives for which he assured that the government will back these manufacturers and would consider reducing certain levies to ensure a smooth transition with competitive pricing, stated media reports.
The state governments are providing incentives for pushing electrification in the tractors at their end, Dhonde said.
However, both industry insiders are positive towards the outlook for the adoption of electric tractors in the country. Though there are multiple players yet to enter this segment with the commercialisation of their products.
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