In fiscal year 22-23, India’s electric vehicle sales surpassed one million units. According to the most recent data from the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), the overall EV industry sold 1,152,021 units in FY 2023, including e-buses, e-cars, e-three-wheelers, and e-two-wheelers.
This is a 58% increase over the 726,861 units sold in FY21-22. Aside from that, the two-wheeler sales total also included 120,000 low-speed e-scooters, 285,443 low-speed e-rickshaws, and around 50,000 low-speed e-cycles, totalling 846,976 units in FY23. This is a significant increase from the 27,888 electric two-wheelers sold in FY17 and nearly three times the 328,000 units sold in FY22.
In FY23, electric three-wheelers accounted for 34% of the Electric vehicle market, with 401,841 units sold. Electric four-wheelers sold 47,217 units at 4%, while electric buses sold 1904 units at 0.16%.
Industry, however, has voiced its concern over the suspension of FAME2 subsidies to companies that do not meet localisation eligibility arguing that it has impacted sales. The momentum in electric two-wheeler adoption “fell after the festive season not because of consumer demand but the sudden withholding of more than the Rs 1,200 crore subsidy already passed on by the majority of OEMs to the customers on the pretext of delay in the localisation,” said the SMEV statement.
However, industry has expressed concern about the suspension of FAME2 subsidies for companies that do not meet localisation eligibility, claiming that it has impacted sales. Sohinder Gill, director general, SMEV, said, “While all the earlier schemes since 2015 had negligible effect on the Electric vehicle adoption, the revised FAME2 had a dramatic effect on e-two wheeler adoption as it decreased their prices by around 35%.
This started attracting the component supply chain that had earlier shunned anything to do with electric two wheelers because of extremely low volumes. It is only in the late 2021, suppliers started queuing up to OEMS to show their eagerness of developing Electric vehicle component. It took most of these suppliers 12 to 18 months, the usual time that it takes to localise and now most of them have started setting up sufficient capacities.”
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