Watch | Are Electric Vehicles India’s future?

A video on India’s Electric Vehicle market

By 2030, 80% of two and three-wheelers, 40% of buses, and 30 to 70% of cars in India will be electric vehicles, says the NITI Aayog. As the nation gears towards its ‘Zero-emission’ 2070 dream, funds and focus are directed towards electric mobility

In March 2022, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari mentioned in the Parliament that between 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, the two–wheeler EVs rose by 422% ; three–wheelers by 75% and four–wheelers up by 230%. The number of electric buses also increased by over 1,200%.

India’s road to a fully-electric ecosystem still has a few hurdles - High cost, inadequate infrastructure, lack of high performing EVs The electric variants of the 2 and 4 wheelers are often priced much higher than regular fuel options. This is the most important reason for the slow adoption of electric mobility.

Over 60% of consumers believe that an EV is beyond their budget.

The maintenance costs are high mainly due to the lack of necessary amenities. There are more than 65,000 petrol bunks in India but only 1640 EV charging stations.

The EVs in India so far have only been variants of the already available fossil-fuel driven 2 and 4 wheelers. High performing luxury variants or supercars like the Teslas are yet to hit the Indian markets.

Hoping to convert more consumers into Electric Vehicle owners, the government is offering subsidies for purchasing electric vehicles. A tax exemption of Rs 1.5 lakh is also given for people buying electric cars on loan. The GST for the purchase of EVs is set at just 5% with zero cess.

Under two phases of the FAME or faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles scheme, the government has been trying to improve the infrastructure for electric vehicle manufacturing in the country. There is also a plan for 22,000 EV charging stations to be set up by Oil Marketing Companies across the country.

In the 2022 budget, a battery swapping policy was announced as an easier way to charge EVs. Last year, the government also announced a Production Linked Incentive scheme for automakers, a part of which aims to boost electric vehicles manufacturing.