India’s electric vehicle (EV) market has made significant strides in 2024, with a 27 per cent increase in sales compared to the previous year but petrol cars are yet to lose steam.
According to India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) data, as of December 29, 2024, EV sales surged to 1.94 million (19 lakh) units this year from 1.5 million in 2023.
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| Despite initial setback, EV sales in India are showing encouraging growth in the mid-to-long term. |
Strong growth in EV sales
Electric vehicles are becoming more popular across India, with sales growing by 26.5 per cent in 2024, despite seasonal setbacks.
This growth has helped raise EV penetration in the country to 7.46 per cent from 6.39 per cent in 2023.
Despite this positive trend, traditional petrol and diesel vehicles continue to dominate the Indian automobile space.
Petrol vehicles still lead the market
In 2024, around 26.04 million (2.6 crore) vehicles were sold in India, and a large majority (73.69 per cent), were powered by petrol. This implies that 19.18 (1.91 million) vehicles sold in 2024 were petrol variants.
Diesel vehicles made up 10.05 per cent of total sales (2.62 million or 26 lakh units).
The remaining 9.87 per cent sales were vehicles powered by alternative fuels such as petrol-compressed natural gas (CNG), hybrid, and CNG.
Even though EV sales are growing, petrol and diesel vehicles continue to dominate, showing that conventional vehicles are still preferred in the country.
EVs close the gap with petrol vehicles
While petrol vehicles still lead, the gap between EV sales and traditional vehicles is gradually closing.
In 2024, for every EV sold, 12.43 petrol, diesel, CNG, or hybrid vehicles were sold.
This is an improvement from 15.67 in 2023 and 21.05 in 2022, showing that EV adoption is gaining traction year after year.
Monthly EV sales consistent
EV sales in India have been more or less consistent throughout the year, with some months seeing significant spikes.
The year started buoyantly with January and February each seeing over 1.4 lakh (140,000) unit sales.
March saw a sharp rise in sales at 2.13 lakh (230,000) units, marking the first major sales boost of the year.
In the second half of 2024, EV sales continued to surge, with October recording the highest monthly sales at 2.19 lakh (219,000) units.
However, sales fell slightly in November and December to 1.92 lakh (192,000) and 1.32 lakh (132,000) units, respectively.
Impact of government schemes
The central government played a crucial role in boosting EV sales in 2024.
One key factor was continuation of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) scheme, which provided subsidies for EV purchases.
Although the government reduced subsidies for electric three-wheelers from Rs 50,000 to Rs 25,000 per vehicle in FY25, the initiative continued to support the growth of the EV market.
The government also introduced the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme, which incentivised the adoption of electric vehicles.
This scheme saw the sale of 80,546 units of electric three-wheelers in a short period.
In addition, subsidies were extended to an additional 1.24 lakh (124,000) e-three wheelers, further stimulating demand for electric vehicles.
E-Vroooom’s views
While EV sales in India have grown impressively, petrol and diesel vehicles remain the majority in the market and for that number to reverse, India should pave the way for more EV charging stations, their prices should come down substantially and range anxiety must be addressed at the earliest (like Tata Motors, which plans to give all its electric vehicles a range of 500 km, at least, on a single charge).
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