As India’s electric vehicle market moves beyond its early adoption phase, the industry’s focus is gradually expanding from battery capacity and claimed range to the broader question of energy efficiency. While batteries remain a critical part of EV development, the efficiency of the motor and overall powertrain is increasingly influencing real-world performance, operating costs, vehicle weight and design.
In this article, Abhilash Maurya, Co-Founder and CEO of Naxatra Labs, examines why motor efficiency could emerge as a key area of competition as India’s EV ecosystem continues to evolve.
India’s electric mobility market is entering a more mature phase. Early discussions around EVs largely centred on battery capacity, charging infrastructure and driving range. As adoption increases and consumers become more familiar with electric vehicles, attention is shifting towards a fundamental question: how efficiently can an EV use the energy stored in its battery?
This is where the electric motor and the wider powertrain become increasingly important.
India recorded more than 24.5 lakh EV registrations in FY2025-26, representing approximately 25% year-on-year growth, according to Vahan-based industry data. Electric two-wheelers accounted for around 1.4 million registrations, remaining the largest segment of the EV market. With electric two-wheelers growing by approximately 22% during FY2026, improving energy efficiency is becoming increasingly relevant for both consumers and manufacturers.
The Battery Is Only Part of the Equation
For consumers, battery capacity is one of the simplest EV specifications to understand. A larger battery can potentially provide greater range, but battery capacity alone does not determine how far an electric vehicle can travel.
The energy stored in the battery passes through several stages before ultimately being converted into motion at the wheels. The motor, controller, power electronics, transmission and other drivetrain components collectively determine how efficiently that stored energy is converted into usable propulsion.
As a result, two electric vehicles with similar battery capacities can deliver significantly different real-world performance.
Consider two electric scooters equipped with comparable battery packs. If one powertrain converts electrical energy into mechanical movement more efficiently, it can potentially achieve greater range from the same amount of stored energy. Alternatively, a manufacturer could target a similar range with a smaller or lighter battery, creating opportunities to reduce vehicle weight, optimise packaging and potentially lower costs.
This is why the next phase of EV innovation cannot focus solely on adding more cells to battery packs. Using every unit of available energy more intelligently could become just as important as increasing the amount of energy stored in the first place.
Efficiency matters particularly in India’s two-wheeler market
India’s EV transition has a strong two-wheeler component. In FY2025-26, electric two-wheelers accounted for roughly 57% of total EV sales, with about 1.4 million units registered.
For this segment, efficiency has a direct connection with the economics of ownership.
Electric two-wheelers are frequently used for daily commuting, deliveries and other high-frequency applications. Their performance is therefore shaped by stop-and-go traffic, varying road conditions, gradients, payloads and weather conditions.
A motor that performs efficiently only under ideal laboratory conditions may not necessarily deliver the same advantages on Indian roads.
The industry consequently needs to look at real-world efficiency, where the motor and controller work effectively across different operating conditions.
For consumers, better efficiency can translate into reduced energy consumption, fewer charging requirements and potentially lower running costs. For manufacturers, it can create opportunities to optimise battery size, vehicle weight and overall system cost.
The motor-controller relationship matters
Motor efficiency should also not be viewed in isolation.
The motor and controller work as a system. How effectively the controller manages power delivery to the motor can have a significant influence on overall drivetrain performance. Poorly matched components can limit the benefits that either component could deliver individually.
This is one reason the development of integrated powertrain technology is becoming increasingly important.
At Naxatra Labs, our experience developing both axial- and radial-flux motors alongside controller technology has reinforced the importance of treating the powertrain as a connected system. The company’s motor platforms have been developed with a focus on efficiency, durability and performance under Indian operating conditions.
The larger industry lesson is that EV manufacturers will increasingly need to evaluate the complete energy pathway rather than individual specifications.
Beyond range: efficiency can influence vehicle design
Improving motor efficiency can have implications beyond the range displayed on a dashboard.
If a drivetrain can deliver the required performance using less energy, manufacturers may have greater flexibility in battery sizing. A lighter battery can, in turn, contribute to lower vehicle weight. Lower weight can influence acceleration, handling and energy consumption, creating a potentially positive cycle across the vehicle.
This becomes particularly relevant in two-wheelers, where weight and packaging constraints are significant.
There is also a manufacturing dimension. India’s EV ambitions are increasingly linked to localisation and the development of domestic technology capabilities. The government-backed automotive PLI programme had attracted ₹45,477 crore of investment and generated more than 67,000 jobs by June 2026, highlighting the growing emphasis on domestic automotive manufacturing and value addition.
As production scales, owning technology across critical components such as motors, controllers and power electronics can become an important part of building a resilient EV ecosystem.
Axial flux, radial flux and the search for the right application
There is no single motor architecture that will suit every EV application.
Radial-flux motors have a long history across electric mobility, while axial-flux designs offer different possibilities around packaging, power density and weight. The choice ultimately depends on the application, performance requirements, manufacturing economics and operating environment.
The industry’s focus should therefore not be on declaring one architecture universally superior, but on developing the right motor for the right vehicle and use case.
This is particularly important for India, where EVs operate across highly varied conditions—from congested urban roads to highways, steep gradients and demanding commercial applications.
The next EV race will be about doing more with less
India’s EV market is moving beyond the first phase of adoption. As competition increases, manufacturers will have to differentiate not just through battery size or headline range but through the overall efficiency, reliability, affordability and performance of the vehicle.
Motor technology will play an important role in that transition.
The question for the industry is no longer simply “How large a battery can we put into an EV?” It is increasingly “How intelligently can we use the energy already available?”
That shift could have significant implications for vehicle design, ownership costs and India’s ability to build globally competitive EV technology.
Battery innovation will remain critical. But as the market matures, extracting more performance from every unit of energy may become just as important as storing more energy in the first place.
The next EV battleground, therefore, may not be inside the battery pack at all. It may be in the motor, controller and powertrain technologies that determine how effectively that energy reaches the road.
