India’s electric mobility journey is gaining momentum with announcements about a new initiative, practically everyday. EV sales in India have seen a 3 times growth over the past year. That’s as per the latest data shared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The ministry outlined that currently, 13,92,265 EVs are plying on Indian roads. In fact, a recent KPMG study expects the EV count in the country to breach well north of 40 million by 2030.
However, that said the EV penetration in India is still low, just about 1 percent but that may soon start improving. Rohan Rao, Partner, M&A Consulting, KPMG India is hopeful that with the steady development of a robust charging network will help accelerate EV adoption in India as is seen globally, “we believe a similar trend is expected to play out in India. With an estimated 50 million EVs on Indian roads by 2030, the potential opportunity for a pure play charging business is enormous.”
A strong regulatory push towards the expansion of the EV charging infrastructure is also playing an integral role and is attracting existing and upcoming OEMs to jump onto the bandwagon.
With an increase in EV sales over the last fiscal year, two-wheelers are still the dominant segment leaders accounting for the maximum sales numbers followed by the electric three-wheelers.
The electric two-wheeler sales, which, in FY2020 touched the 1,52,000 mark has moderated to some extent in FY2021 to 1,44,000 units but has again picked up momentum. It is currently leading the EV sales chart with over 2,31,000 two-wheelers.
Electric three-wheelers being the second most popular segment where EV adoption is gaining pace accounted for 1,40,000 units in FY2020 and registrations 1,78,000 sold units.
The electric buses have also clocked a steady growth in recent years and the favourable schemes from the respective state governments like Mumbai and Delhi towards electrification of public transportation has also worked wonders in the bid to increase the EV adoption rate.
While the electric buses in FY2020 recorded only 6,000 unit sales, saw a 19 percent growth YoY between FY2021 and FY2022 and currently stand at 2,20,000 units in FY2022. The solid thrust on expanding public infrastructure by India’s nine megacities is perhaps the most significant growth contributor in this segment.
Electric cars have also entered the market, though we still have to wait for worthwhile penetration in the four-wheeler segment. Nevertheless, Tata’s Nexon EV, MG’s ZS EV and a few more e-cars are doing well in the market and consumers have started shifting to the e-versions of their preferred car variants.