Electric vehicles registered a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in sales in FY20, with the surge driven largely by two-wheelers, particularly low-speed scooters that do not need registration. In fact, electric cars posted a marginal y-o-y sales decline of 5.5 per cent to 3,400 cars compared with the previous year’s 3,600 cars, the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) said on Monday.

Ninety-seven per cent of the electric two-wheelers sold in FY20 was scooters, with motorcycles and cycles accounting for a mere 3 per cent, SMEV said in a statement. Low-speed scooters that go at a maximum speed of 25 km/hour, which do not need registration with the transport authorities, constituted a whopping 90 per cent of all the electric two-wheelers sold, it said.

“The EV industry sold 1,56,000 electric vehicles in FY20. Out of this, 1,52,000 were two-wheelers, 3,400 cars and 600 buses. The corresponding sale for the FY19 was 1,26,000 two-wheelers, 3,600 cars and around 400 buses making a total of 1,30,000 units,” said SMEV.

SMEV said it has not taken into account the sales of e-rickshaws, which it identified as being “still largely with the unorganised sector with a reported sale of around 90,000 units”.

The decrease in the sales of electric cars is attributed mainly due to lack of bulk purchase of e-cars in FY20 and discontinuation of one of the leading car models, said SMEV. The acceptability of electric cars in the premium segment in the second half of the year was a positive signal of a quantum jump of a much higher volume of e-cars in FY21, it added.

The e-taxi segment is also beginning to get some traction, though the range of e-cars and the lack of adequate charging spots are a deterrent in the growth of this segment, it noted.

The sales of e-buses faced hurdles such as State governments making several announcements on purchasing e-buses but not issuing tenders, with procurement also being put on hold in some cases, it said.

A defining year

“The EV industry is taking shape and we believe that despite Covid-19, FY21 will be a defining year for all the EV segments,” said Sohinder Gill, Director General, SMEV. While the EV industry is surely going to face the brunt of Covid-19 like any other automotive business, the clearer skies and the cleaner air in even the worst polluting cities is certainly leaving a permanent impression in the minds of the customers about how they can breathe easy and remain healthy if the society moves towards e-mobility, he explained.

Citing a recent Harvard research of how PM2.5 pollution can multiply the risk of Covid deaths, which shows how the pollutants of internal combustion engine vehicles can be harmful, Gill said that this is going to make the policymakers think about how to accelerate the EV growth.

He added that the EV industry can spring back faster than the ailing ICE vehicles segment, if the government and the industry give it the right impetus.

Commuting costs

A pertinent factor that may work in favour of electric two-wheelers post-Covid would be the choice of switching over from crowded mass transport to the sensibly priced electric two-wheelers with almost the same cost of commuting as that of public transport, Gill explained.

“Few experiments like electric two-wheelers being sold without the batteries and customer paying for the batteries as a fuel, e-commerce companies realising the economic benefits of EVs and converting their fleets, e-carts becoming a convenient and cost-effective means of short distance logistics, e-taxis fleets beginning to make money due to lower operating costs may bring around the inflection point in the EV industry in FY 21-22,” added Gill.

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