Electric Car Sales Growth

Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) said on Monday that the electric vehicle sales, excluding e-rickshaws, saw a growth of 20 % in 2019-20. This comes at a time when the Indian automotive industry is witnessing one of its worst slowdown in years. It’s a good sign that customer focus is slowly shifting towards E-mobility, but it remains to be seen if this uptick in sales can be sustained for long enough.

Here’s a brief of the sales of Electric Cars in India in financial year 2019 - 2020:

• According to SMEV, a total of 1.56 lakh EVs were sold in India in 2019-20, a 20% rise from the earlier sales of 1.3 lakh units in the previous year. This does not take into account the sales of e-rickshaws which stood at around 90,000 units.

• The Electric two wheelers form 97.5 % of the total EV sales. In the Electric two wheelers, 97 % were electric scooters and the rest comprised of electric motorcycles and cycles. Low speed scooters (max speed of 25 kmph) that do not need any registration constituted a whopping 90 % of all the E2Ws sold.

• 3400 electric four wheelers were also sold in FY20, down from 3600 the previous FY. SMEV noted that the decrease in numbers is due to the lack of bulk purchase of electric cars in the FY 19-20 and discontinuation of one of the leading car models.  As per 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 in sales in FY 21.

• SMEV also believes that the electric taxi segment is also beginning to get some traction, though the range of electric cars and lack of charging spots in enough density is a deterrent in the growth of this segment. While the CNG stations are expanding, the EV charging stations are still limited to few metropolitan cities. 

• The sales of electric buses stood quite low at 600 units, despite some offers being bagged by major home grown companies for state transportation. In FY 18-19, the sales of electric buses was 400 units.
   

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

Commenting on the sales, Sohinder Gill, Director General, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles said, “ The EV industry is taking shape and we believe that despite the COVID-19, the FY 20-21 will be a defining year for all the EV segments. 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. I feel, given the right impetus by the government and the industry, the EV industry can spring back faster than the ailing Internal combustion (IC) vehicles segment. A pertinent factor that may work in favour of electric two wheelers post COVID-19 would be the choice of switching over the crowded mass transport to the sensibly priced electric two wheelers with almost the same cost of commuting, as of public transport.” 

He further added, “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 q 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 inflexion point in the EV industry in FY 21-22”.
 

Catch a comparison between India’s most selling electric cars here:

https://mynewcar.in/blog/buying-advice/car-comparison-mg-zs-ev-vs-hyundai-kona-electric-ev

Catch everything related to the automotive world- expert reviews, comparisons, news, buying advice, maintenance tips etc. on our site. Also do check out www.trivz.com for booking test drive of any car. It’s an exciting platform, first of its kind that enables you to connect with car owners for test drives as well as for ownership feedback. You can also download Trivz app from Google Play and Apple Store.