India’s EV Agenda Faces Challenges from Hybrid Vehicles

Some manufacturers market hybrids as climate-conscious solutions, promoting their fuel efficiency and low emissions. Sales of models have climbed steadily since 2022, buoyed by consumer anxiety around range of electric vehicles (EV), patchy public charging infrastructure and high initial cost of premium EVs.

Hybrid vehicles come in three main types. Mild hybrids like Maruti Suzuki’s Smart Hybrid tech offer minimal fuel savings and cannot drive on electricity alone. Strong hybrids like the Honda City e:HEV can switch between electric and petrol modes for short distances. Plug-in hybrids (PHEV) such as Volvo XC90 Recharge or BMW X3 PHEV (not common in India yet) can be externally charged and drive 40-80 km on battery power before reverting to petrol.

While PHEVs are the most efficient of the three, studies show they often emit far more CO2 in real-world use due to inconsistent charging, and all hybrids still rely on fossil fuels and emit harmful pollutants like black carbon and PM2.5.

Even the best hybrid, therefore, is a half-measure — cleaner than petrol, but far from the clean break needed in a climate emergency. 

Policy confusion & green halo around hybrids

Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) is India’s flagship scheme aimed at accelerating the shift to clean mobility by subsidising vehicles that offer genuine emissions reduction. At its second phase (FAME II), the scheme covers primarily battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) with meaningful electric-only range. Strong hybrids, which cannot be externally charged and still rely largely on fossil fuels, do not qualify for FAME II subsidies.

Despite this, recent lobbying by some manufacturers has sparked policy confusion, with attempts to extend incentives to strong hybrids.

Meanwhile, urban consumers often conflate hybrids with electric cars due to confusing terminology like “self-charging electric vehicles”.  This risks blurring the lines between transitional tech and truly zero-emission mobility, potentially diluting the scheme’s climate intent.

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