Maruti Suzuki India plans to localise battery production and other key components over the next few years to strengthen the EV ecosystem in India. The company will launch its first electric vehicle, e-VITARA, in 2026 and aims to have five EV models by 2030. Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales), said, "Right now we are importing the batteries, but yes, we have a plan for localisation. It is very much on the cards in a phased manner over the next few years." He added that EV adoption will grow only when consumers trust electric vehicles enough to buy them as their primary car. "We believe that the customer is not confident (about EVs). The initial products that were launched, and the experiences from those, have created a huge amount of negativity in the minds of people regarding the driving range," Banerjee said. Currently, most EV buyers treat them as secondary vehicles due to limited public charging infrastructure and concerns about driving range. Maruti Suzuki plans to tackle challenges like driving range, after-sales service, resale value, and lack of public chargers. The company has set up 2,000 charging points and will have 1,500 EV-enabled workshops in 1,100 cities across India. To boost resale value, Maruti will offer assured buyback and subscription schemes. Banerjee highlighted, "If the buyer is not confident about the entire ecosystem he will not buy an EV." The company aims to install around 100,000 charging stations by 2030 with dealer and charging operator partners. Maruti has already exported 10,000 e-VITARA units to 26 countries and plans to expand its electric model lineup across body types to become a leader in the EV segment.