The Indian EV market is at a nascent stage. With a handful of startups and brands operating in this space, the aspiring users across the country are waiting for two big shifts - the first being new brands bringing better features at affordable prices and the second is the need for a massive increase in charging stations.
Chinese phone makers appear to be enamored by the business, just as they did when India's mobile users began seeking better features at affordable prices. Which is possibly why the likes of Oppo, OnePlus, and Realme have made their presence felt in this segment, through trademark applications in India. All these big brands, all incidentally owned by BBK technologies, want an early-mover advantage so that they can turn market leaders in the future, just as they did in the smartphone business.
Adding to the list is another smartphone brand from the house of BBK – Vivo – that has reportedly filed for trademarks in the electric vehicle segment.
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According to a report by Rushlane, the Chinese smartphone maker has filed a trademark application under Class 12, which has a wide range of including - electric vehicles, cars, motorcycles, driverless cars (autonomous cars), bicycles, mopeds, self-balancing vehicles, electric unicycle, unicycle, self-balancing unicycles, remote control vehicles, water vehicles, air vehicles, aerial drone and photography drone.
The status of this application currently shows as “opposed” and isn’t approved yet. And since these are early days, we have absolutely no information about what exactly Vivo is planning to launch in India.
However, we feel that these brands might start with electric scooters and since they are closely connected, sharing technical know-how might not be a roadblock.
Electric two-wheelers could be the safest bet for the Chinese entrants
While India still has a massive appetite for smartphones, the market size is limited and the number of competitors ensures that so is growth. On the other hand, the EV market in the country is yet to pick up pace.
Early indicators from the market also shows that demand for electric two-wheelers is way higher than battery-operated cars, because the ratio is already skewed in favour of the former. And owing to the ever-increasing fuel prices, these are the users eager to make the switch to a solution that can ease some burden off their pockets.
Hence, it is safe to assume that these Chinese smartphone makers might want to focus on this category and gradually open up to the four-wheeler segment keeping the smartphones at the core of the ecosystem which now includes – home entertainment, computing, IoT, home appliances and more.
As of now, there are a handful of EV brands operating at a pan India level including – Ather, Ola, Simple, TVS, Ampere, Okinawa etc. while conventional brands Honda, Suzuki, Bajaj etc are still busy prioritizing ICE vehicles. Thus, leaving a massive opening for the Chinese players who do not mind going aggressive on pricing upfront to gain market share but slowly force the competition to play on their terms.
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