Speaking on the plans for electrification of the offering by Tata Hitachi, Anand Hariharan, Head – Product Development, had this to say: The average customer in the Indian CE industry is price-sensitive and has been extremely cautious in trying out alternate fuels, either due to increased costs or lack of availability. We must also factor in the time lag between customers in more developed countries vis-a-vis Indian customers in switching to alternative fuels and energy sources.”

He added, “In addition, these fuels should be sustainable in terms of not only their own availability but also the availability at the scale of engine technology that can run on these fuels. Without such scalability, it may be cost-prohibitive in terms of investment for both OEMs and engine manufacturers.”

“Having said that, we do have technologies available with respect to different types of electric drives with our principal, Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM). We can access these technologies at any point to introduce machines in our market, should the need arise. However, these introductions will largely be driven by the needs of customers, their buying capacity, their willingness to change, and the availability of engines that can use alternate fuels,” he said.