India’s clean mobility future demands more than EVs alone. Toyota’s Vikram Gulati advocates for ethanol flex-fuel technology as an immediate, scalable solution while charging infrastructure and affordability challenges keep electric vehicles from reaching mass adoption.
Are EVs the only path to a clean future for India? Vikram Gulati, Country Head, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, shares a grounded, real-world view on why India’s energy transition must go beyond just electric vehicles.
In this conversation at Autocar Professional’s India EV Conclave, Gulati explains how GST has simplified the auto tax structure and unexpectedly helped narrow the price gap between EVs and ICE vehicles. He makes a strong case for ethanol as India’s most practical clean-energy pathway, revealing that India could shift to E35–E40 almost overnight with flex-fuel–ready vehicles.
Key Insights From the Episode:
- Why multiple green technologies are essential to move away from fossil fuels
- Why technology multiplicity is crucial for the 95% of vehicles that are still ICE
- When EVs will hit their true tipping point in India
- Why charging infrastructure gaps remain a major bottleneck
- How battery swapping can play a unique role for 2Ws, 3Ws and buses
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