Close To 14 Lakh Electric Vehicles Plying On Indian Roads, Most Are Three-Wheelers
A total of 13,92,265 Electric Vehicles (EVs) are being used on the roads of India as on 3rd August 2022, the government has told the Parliament.
Minister of State for Heavy Industries Krishan Pal Gurjar informed that the highest number of electric vehicles in India is three-wheelers. The total number of three-wheeler stands at 7,93,370. The total number of two-wheeler stands at 5,44,643. The number of four-wheelers and above stands at 54,252 as on 3rd August 2022.
3 crore EVs in India in two years
Data with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways showed that the sale of EVs in FY 2021-22 has gone up over three times as compared to FY 2020-21 from 1,34,460.
In May, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had said the number of electric vehicles in the country will go up to 3 crores in the next two years.
"There are currently 12 lakh electric vehicles in the country. By December end, the number will go up to 40 lakh and in next two years, it will reach to 3 crore," he had said.
EV adaptation still slow
Over the past few years, India, like many countries across the world has been trying to push EVs.
However, the comparatively higher cost of the EVs and a lack of charging infrastructure has made the adoption slower than ideal, especially in non-metros.
Several states have announced subsidies and tax exemptions to make EVs more affordable to people.
Subsidies for EV owners
Delhi has the highest subsidy for EVs in India at a maximum of Rs 30,000 followed by Maharashtra at Rs 25,000 and Meghalaya, Assam, and Gujarat at Rs 20,000 each.
With the exemption of Gujarat (50%) the top five subsidies-providing states have also reduced road tax for EVs.
In addition to this, the government on 12th May 2021 approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) in the country to bring down prices of batteries.?
GST on electric vehicles has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent; GST on chargers/ charging stations for electric vehicles has been reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) announced that battery-operated vehicles will be given green license plates and be exempted from permit requirements.
EV charging infrastructure
According to government data, the number of operational public EV charging stations in the country stood at 1,640 as of February 2022.
Last month the Delhi government had started building EV charging stations at 14 cluster scheme bus depots where customers will be charged under Rs 2 per unit, compared with the rate of Rs 10-15 per unit in other states.
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