EV sales momentum gains traction in FY2021

Electric vehicles clocked sales of 1.35 lakh sales during FY2021 across India accounting for about 0.88 percent of all vehicles registered during last financial year- which is the highest share ever. However, the rise in sales percentage of EV is to be seen in the context of overall sales momentum. 

As per a dashboard update prepared by Centre for Energy Finance’s (CEEW-CEF), one of Asia's leading think-tanks working on the water & energy sector, electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler sales accounted for nearly 96 percent of the electric mobility market in FY2021.

Three-wheeler EVs made up 65 per cent of all EV registrations in FY2021, having comprised 83 percent of the market, the year ago. Electric two-wheelers on the other hand, made up 30 percent of total EV registrations in FY2021 compared to only 14 percent earlier (this includes only two-wheelers with speed greater than or equal to 25 km/hr). Also, electric two-wheelers grew 1.6-times in FY2021, from 24,839 units sold in FY2020 to 40,837 in FY2021.

Further, the four-wheeler segment is expected to grow rapidly with planned launch of over 23 new electric car models in FY2022. The dashboard also highlights the shift from petrol-run sedans to an electric sedan in Delhi NCT, could save nearly Rs 30,000 annually in operational expenses. The Indian automobile market has registered over 638,000 EVs since 2011-2012.

Commenting on the analysis, Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW, said, “In the coming years, the Central and state governments need to reduce uncertainty by rolling out detailed and clear long-term policies. Further, targeted efforts are needed to solve critical challenges such as higher upfront cost of EVs, lack of end-user financing, consumer’s range anxiety and inaccessible charging."

The mobility dashboard shows that the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) - II scheme has achieved only 4.25 per cent of its target sales so far. One major barrier could be that many potential EV buyers are unaware of the financial incentives available to them such as user subsidies and significant exemptions from road tax and registration fees. 

According to the CEEW-CEF dashboard,  Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka were the top three  states in terms of EV sales in FY2021. Uttar Pradesh alone contributed 23 percent of the country’s sales, with 31,584 EVs sold in FY2021. The top 10 states together made up 88 percent of all EVs sold in India. Tripura, however, stands out with the highest share of 52  EVs per 1,000 ICE vehicles sold in FY2021.