Electric Car Sales Drop In India

Why e-cars have failed to gain momentum in India

Electric car sales plunged 40% so far in FY18, despite government’s efforts to electrify the Indian fleet. Sales of electric car declined by 1200 units y/y in FY18. There are many factors which have led to a poor adoption rate of electric cars in India. The first and the most prominent one being lack of clear policies in India. Though the government wants to electrify almost 30% of its total fleet by 2030 in India, there are no incentives for either manufacturers or buyers to start making and using EVs. High price and lack of proper infrastructure (like charging stations) are other impediments.

Also, read Why Indian Car Makers Are Not Keen on Manufacturing Electric Vehicles

On the other hand, the sale of electric two-wheelers increased 138% to 54,800 during the same time. India reported 56,000 electric vehicles running on its roads as of March 2018, of which majority were two-wheelers. The inclination towards electric two-wheelers shows India’s willingness to cut their overall carbon footprint but on an economical scale. India is a price sensitive market and the high price of electric vehicles is a big constraint to an increased adoption.

Here is a list of the best electric cars running in India

Electric vehicles are the need of the hour in India. At least the public transport needs to be completely electrified to save our environment. The government like solar energy is pushing for higher adoption of EVs to cut India’s growing carbon footprint. In its effort, the Indian government has set up an energy service company called EESL, which is fully owned by the government. The government had ordered 10,000 e-cars for its various departments, out of which 500 cars were delivered by Tata Motors and Mahindra (there are the only two companies currently manufacturing e-cars in India). However, the performance of these cars was sub-optimal.