World EV Day 2020: A Look At EV Sales In FY2020-21 In India

It’s September 9, a day to commemorate electric vehicles. India saw the introduction of three long range EVs -- Hyundai Kona Electric, Tata Nexon EV and the MG ZS EV --  within a year and all three of them have been received well by car buyers in the country. But these are just signs of what’s in store for us in the future with even Tesla, one of the leading EV makers in the world, planning to enter the Indian market soon.  

Sure, they’re expensive to buy and the charging infrastructure is still a joke, at least in India. Despite the road blocks, the trend for buying EVs is on the rise and more manufacturers will soon be entering the EV space. The Government has also set stringent targets to shift to electric mobility and are throwing in incentives to make EVs more accessible. The sales numbers in India also show the rising trend. Below are sales of EVs in FY 2020-21 so far:

These aren’t ground breaking numbers by any means, but it shows that long range models such as the Nexon EV, ZS EV and the Kona Electric are becoming popular by the day. This also highlights the fact that Indian buyers prefer long range EVs due to factors like range anxiety and lack of enough charging stations. But with the Government’s push to make adoption of EVs faster, what can be done to quicken the jump from ICE to EVs? Here’s what we feel could work:

Improvement In Charging Infrastructure: 

Charging infrastructure still needs to be improved and people have the anxiety of their EVs running out of charge in the middle of nowhere. Sure, long range EVs try to curb this, but improvement of charging infrastructure would do wonders for the sales numbers as well as the customers. 

Localisation Of Technology: 

Manufacturers still import major components in the country considering the paltry sales numbers. If major parts like the battery pack, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of a car’s cost, are manufactured in India, it would bring the cost of EVs drastically and could appeal to a wider set of audience.  

So do we see the sales of EVs rising in the future? Yes, going by the table above, the sales figures are slowly climbing up the ladder. Sure they might not offer the same thrills as revving an engine or enjoying a crisp exhaust note of a V8, but electric cars are blisteringly fast, fun-to-drive and all of this is done in a greener manner. And with the technology slowly going mainstream, one can surely hope that their pricing could come dangerously close to that of an ICE-powered car.

Sales Number Source