Copying China's EV model wrong, cautions Bharat Forge's Amit Kalyani

One of India's leading manufacturing multinationals, Bharat Forge, on Tuesday called for a more innovative approach to electric vehicles (EVs) in the country's climate action agenda which is not based on copying China's battery-based model.

Addressing India Global Forum's Climate and Business (ClimB) session in London, company vice-chair and joint managing director Amit Kalyani pointed to great potential to incorporate inductive electric charging as the highway infrastructure takes shape around the country.

He highlighted that the higher price tag of EVs is largely down to the cost of the batteries and having an alternative model will have a significant impact on sales of the more environmentally-friendly mode of transport.

"I believe that we are all following the wrong model because everybody is copying what China did and is using the Chinese template for electric vehicles, which is a battery-based electric model, said Kalyani.

"Most countries like India, where we are building ...