Electric four-wheeler registrations witness a positive rise in FY21

The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicle has released the Indian electric vehicle industry sales report for the FY2020-21. The EV industry retailed a total of 2,36,802 non-ICE vehicles in the last financial year. These numbers includes the sale of electric two-wheelers (E2W), electric-three wheelers (E3W), and electric four-wheelers (E4W). 

Starting with the E2W segment, the industry registered 1,43,837-units of which 40,836 units were high-speed and 1,03,000-units were low-speed two-wheelers. Overall, the E2W sales dropped by six per cent in FY21. The sales of E3W witnessed a significant fall with 88,378-units sold as against 140,683-units sold in FY20. There was a steady rise in the registration of E4W with 4,588 EVs registered in the FY2020-21. 

To encourage the adoption of more EVs, many corporate entities have stepped up and installed charging stations across the country. Currently, there are around 1,300 charging stations nationwide and the numbers are likely to multiply in the next five to six years. Additionally, many state governments have implemented their state-level EV policy. The list currently includes Delhi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Punjab, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand. 

Commenting on the sales report, Sohinder Gill, Director-General, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicle (SMEV), said, “We were anticipating a good growth before the start of FY21, but sales remained stagnant due to various reasons. The sales in electric three-wheeler and two-wheeler segment stood low as compared to last year. A good thing has happened that people started moving towards advanced batteries i.e. lithium. The city speed and high-speed category in the two-wheeler segment have witnessed growth. However, a lot more has to be done to achieve the target under the FAME II scheme. Timely intervention by the government in the form of policy change is required to fuel the growth and achieve the target by the end of FY22.”