AWR Lloyd EV Study: Benchmarking Cities and Flipping Assumptions on Adoption

Rushank was part of the AWR Lloyd team running a two-wheeler EV market study for a UK-based client. The assignment required understanding where EV adoption was actually happening in India and why, rather than relying on assumptions about wealth or urbanization.

The team started with a structured city selection process. They benchmarked 28 Indian cities across parameters including GDP per capita, two-wheeler adoption rates, EV sales figures, and government incentive structures, narrowing the field to three cities: Mumbai, Pune, and Bangalore.

Rushank was based in Mumbai and traveled to Pune for the field research phase. The team segmented consumers into three groups: existing two-wheeler users, people who had just visited or purchased from a showroom, and enthusiast owners. They also interviewed franchise and store owners to understand sales dynamics from the supply side.

One of the most significant findings came from Pune. Rushank had entered the research expecting Mumbai, as the wealthier city, to show stronger two-wheeler adoption. What the field data showed was the opposite: Pune's weaker public transportation network was driving higher two-wheeler ownership, independent of income. He had to revise his assumption based on what he found on the ground.

The team also surfaced a cultural insight that surprised the client directly. Consumers who said they would not buy a foreign product were simultaneously loyal to Royal Enfield, a brand with deep UK ties. The client, who was UK-based, had not anticipated this contradiction. Rushank backed the finding with direct consumer responses, grounding it in what people actually said rather than asserting it.

Additional findings included the role of festivals in driving vehicle purchase timing and the importance of showroom experience as a family event, with implications for how the client should think about retail presence in India.