MG Motor Starts Price War in Electric Vehicles

Pune: Automaker JSW MG Motor has started a price war in the electric vehicle market in the world’s third automobile market to accelerate early adoption of electric mobility in the country.

While the price of the MG Comet mini electric car has been reduced by Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh (earlier Rs 7 lakh), the MG ZS electric SUV comes at Rs 13.99 lakh, Rs 5 lakh cheaper than earlier Rs 18.99 lakh.

JSW MG Motor introduced a unique initiative called Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) to boost the adoption of electric cars to achieve zero emission when it launched its third electric SUV called Windsor on Sept.11. With a starting price of Rs 10 lakh for the Windsor, the company charges Rs 3.50 per km for the battery usage.

BaaS is a battery rental model where customers do not pay for the battery but pay on the basis of per kilometer battery usage.

Thus, because you only pay for the vehicle and not for the battery, the prices of MG Motors electric vehicles have been slashed and made more affordable.

“Under the BaaS rental model, our customers buying the Comet will pay Rs 2.5 per km of running as rental for the battery,” Gaurav Gupta, Chief Growth Officer at JSW MG Motor told Financial Chronicle. This is the second time the model has seen a price cut as its price was reduced by Rs 1 lakh earlier.

Similarly, customers can buy MG ZS for Rs 13.99 lakh (actual price is Rs 18.99 lakh) under the BaaS rental model, Gupta explained, adding that the customers would be charged only Rs 4.5 per km as a rental for the battery.

“We want to encourage people to shift to electric vehicles as we have busted the myth that electric cars are more expensive than owning petrol and diesel cars,” Gupta noted.