The world may be set to go green real soon. At least that is what the latest numbers on electric vehicle (EV) registrations in India say. Amid the number of fire incidents, as many as 72,474 EVs were registered in the country in June, according to the data available on the Vahan portal.

This is a 547 per cent jump, compared to the June 2021 figures. In fact, the first quarter of the current fiscal (Q1 FY23) saw the most number of EV sales — a massive 2,10,942 of them — which is 635 per cent higher than the corresponding quarter of FY21.

A new report by NITI Aayog and the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) says, “India is at the crossroads and a shift to electric mobility, particularly in the two-wheeler segment, may happen faster than anticipated. There is a positive mindset about electric mobility among the consumers and a recent rise in the price of petroleum fuels has played a major role in this shift.” It also notes that public awareness about EVs has also increased.

Rocking the market

According to a report by consultancy firm JMK Research and Analytics, a major portion of these EV sales was in the electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler categories. “EV registrations in June 2022 were driven by electric two-wheelers and passenger-type electric three-wheelers, which together accounted for 90.40 per cent of total registrations in the month. The shares of these categories were followed by e-cars (5.32 per cent), cargo-type electric three-wheelers (4 per cent), and so on,” the report says.

As much as 57.67 per cent of the sales were in the two-wheeler space. The NITI Aayog-TIFAC report, too, supports this trend. “The Indian vehicle market is primarily dominated by the two-wheelers with more than 70 per cent of the registered vehicles currently falling under this category. Thus, any effort to address problems associated with fossil fuels in the transport sector needs to have a major focus on their use in these vehicles,” it says, noting that the number of two-wheeler sales has only gone up over years.

The top electric two-wheeler manufacturer in the country as of now is Okinawa, followed by Ampere, Hero Electric and Ola Electric, in that order.

UP sold more

Of all the States and Union Territories, EVs are most popular in Uttar Pradesh. In June, as much as 17 per cent of the total EV sales happened there, according to the JMK report.

“(It is) followed by Maharashtra with 13 per cent share. Karnataka retained its third spot with a 10 per cent share, followed by Gujarat (8 per cent), Rajasthan (8 per cent), Tamil Nadu (6 per cent) and Delhi (6 per cent),” the report notes.

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