A Supply-Side Maturity Assessment of India’s Electric Vehicle Industry: A SWOT–AHP-Based Framework

Abstract

The transition to electric mobility in emerging economies is an integrated engineering system challenge that depends not only on consumer adoption but also on the maturity of domestic manufacturing, power system integration, and supporting infrastructure. This study presents a supply-side maturity assessment of India’s electric vehicle (EV) industry through the development of an Electric Vehicle Industry Maturity Index (EVIMI) based on a hybrid SWOT–Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) framework. Sixteen critical factors influencing EV industrial readiness were identified through a systematic literature review and expert consultation. These factors were aggregated into four interdependent maturity dimensions: technology readiness, financial readiness, market readiness, and infrastructure readiness. The results were transformed into a normalized maturity index ranging from 0 to 1, where 0.5 represents a neutral transitional level. The findings reveal an asymmetric maturity profile: while market readiness is high, infrastructure readiness remains the primary binding constraint (index < 0.5), particularly regarding grid-side capacity and charging density. The study concludes that sustainable industrialization requires a shift from demand-side subsidies to system-level interventions in power distribution and technical manufacturing depth. The EVIMI framework provides a replicable diagnostic tool for evaluating industrial-technical readiness in other emerging EV ecosystems.