Battery as a Service
(BaaS) in India

Battery as a Service (BaaS) is a concept where one can buy an EV vehicle at a substantially reduced price if the battery is procured separately and paid for as one goes. In an EV car, nearly 60–70% of the vehicle cost is the battery — it is, after all, the functional equivalent of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) in traditional petrol or diesel cars. BaaS is catching on in India in the recent past and is beginning to reshape how consumers think about electric mobility economics.

BaaS reduces upfront ownership cost and could stimulate sales of EVs — particularly among price-sensitive, first-time, or urban commuter buyers who are reluctant to lock in the full capital cost of an EV but are willing to pay on a usage basis.

MG Motor — The Pioneer

MG Motor was the first to introduce BaaS for its EV Windsor when it was launched in September 2024 with a 38 kWh battery pack. A larger 52.9 kWh pack was subsequently added to the line-up in May 2025. Under BaaS, MG charges a per-km battery rental fee that varies by variant. The base Windsor Excite with the 38 kWh pack is priced at Rs 9.99 lakh (without battery) against a with-battery price of Rs 14 lakh — a saving of Rs 5.01 lakh. Rental fees range from Rs 3.9 per km (38 kWh variants) to Rs 4.5 per km (52.9 kWh Pro variants). MG has since expanded BaaS to the Comet EV (from Rs 4.92 lakh shell price) and the ZS EV (saving up to Rs 5.24 lakh upfront), with financing partnerships through Bajaj Finance and Hero FinCorp. Additional features include a lifetime battery warranty for the first owner and one year of free public charging via MG's eHUB app.

Tata Motors — Following Suit

Tata Motors also offers BaaS for the Punch EV (facelifted). As per CarDekho analysis, the BaaS Punch is priced at Rs 6.49 lakh plus taxes while the regular (with battery) variant starts at Rs 9.69 lakh — a difference of approximately Rs 3.2 lakh upfront (roughly 33%). Tata's battery rental fee is Rs 2.6 per km — the most affordable per-km subscription fee for any EV car in India as of writing. Tata has, however, revealed BaaS pricing for only the entry-spec 30 kWh Smart trim as of early 2026.

TVS Motor — BaaS for Two-Wheelers

TVS Motor offers a BaaS price of Rs 59,999 for its iQube electric scooter, against a regular price of approximately Rs 1.02 lakh — a reduction of roughly 41%. The monthly battery subscription starts at Rs 1,202, with unlimited monthly kilometres included. TVS has extended BaaS across its entire EV portfolio including the Orbiter V1 (from Rs 49,999 shell price), offering extended warranty coverage of up to 5 years or 70,000 km, and a 60-month battery subscription option that can yield savings of up to Rs 17,500 over two years versus a standard EV purchase.

BaaS is more profitable for the low-mileage user who drives approximately 5,000 km a year, as the cumulative rentals would be lower than the actual battery cost. However, for annual runs of say 15,000 km, per MG's original numbers (Rs 3.5/km rental + Re 1/km charging), the battery rental cost alone would be approximately Rs 52,500, plus Rs 15,000 for charging — totalling Rs 67,500 per year. Over 10 years, this adds up to Rs 6.75 lakh, which is substantially higher than the battery's standalone cost. That said, the vehicle is also being used far more intensively over that period.

The crossover point — where the cumulative BaaS cost equals the outright battery purchase — depends heavily on annual usage. For a typical urban commuter covering 8,000–10,000 km per year, the economics are broadly comparable over 5–7 years. For low-use buyers (under 6,000 km per year), BaaS is clearly superior. For high-use buyers (15,000+ km annually), owning the battery outright is almost certainly the better financial decision over a 10-year horizon.

India's EV market is at an inflection point. Total EV sales grew 16.9% in FY25 to 1.97 million units, including 1.15 million electric two-wheelers, nearly 700,000 electric three-wheelers, and over 100,000 electric passenger vehicles. Electric car penetration remains modest — approaching 100,000 units or approximately 2% of total car sales in 2024, per the IEA — but Q1 2025 saw electric car sales grow 45% year-on-year, nearing 35,000 units for the quarter.

The passenger EV market is seeing a sharp bifurcation: premium SUVs (above Rs 25 lakh) are growing explosively (the Rs 25–30 lakh segment grew over 2,500% in H1 2025), while the mass-market sub-Rs 10 lakh hatchback segment contracted sharply by over 60%. BaaS is directly addressing this sub-Rs 10–15 lakh segment, seeking to retain cost-conscious buyers who might otherwise revert to ICE or delay purchase.

Tata Motors, which once commanded a 64% EV market share, saw its share decline to around 35% in H1 2025 — though this is more a reflection of intensified competition than a volume collapse. MG Motors closed the gap dramatically, growing 196% to capture 30% market share in H1 2025, with Windsor BaaS being a central driver. Mahindra emerged as the fastest climber with 23.8% market share on the back of its BE and XEV series SUVs.

Fleet operators are also increasingly shifting from direct battery purchases to BaaS-type models, particularly in the last-mile logistics and e-commerce delivery segment, where high utilisation makes battery servicing and predictable costs paramount.

Should be interesting how BaaS develops — once battery availability, servicing, exchange, and charging infrastructure all improve, it should do well. There are clear early indicators that this is already happening: Maruti Suzuki's e Vitara, launched in 2026, offers BaaS pricing across three variants, and Toyota's Ebella (a rebadged e Vitara) is expected to follow suit. This signals that BaaS is transitioning from a disruptive experiment by MG to a mainstream financing model for the Indian EV market.

The India EV battery pack market itself is projected to grow from $0.68 billion in 2025 to $4.06 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 56.09%, per Research and Markets. As battery costs continue to decline and domestic manufacturing scales up (with localisation rates already touching 92% for some models), the effective cost of the BaaS rental relative to ownership will compress, making the model viable across a wider usage band. Solid-state battery advancements and LFP chemistry improvements will further improve BaaS economics.

As usual, there are pros and cons. The biggest pro is the lower upfront cost of acquisition, which encourages many a marginal buyer. The cons — primarily around cumulative cost for high-mileage users and the operational complexity of lease transfer — are not structural barriers that will prevent BaaS from growing. These are operational issues that will be ironed out as the model matures. The momentum, as MG's market share story so vividly illustrates, is firmly on the side of BaaS.