This year has seen the EV sales sector on a roll, as it took only ten months to reach the 1.5 million mark, which took a full 12 months last year.
In October, the festival season bolstered India’s electric vehicle (EV) sales, turning around a two-month downturn. Registrations totalled 217,716, up 35% from the 160,237 units sold in September. This is also the highest monthly sales amount announced so far.
This new high even surpassed March’s 213,063 units — a figure boosted by the last days of the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) plan, demonstrating how much demand has increased this year.
According to Vahan data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, monthly EV sales reached 200,000 for the second time in 2024, bringing total EV registrations to more than 1.6 million.
Electric two-wheelers continued to dominate the market, accounting for 954,241 units (59% of total EV sales). The smallest group was electric cars, which sold 83,802 units; the remaining 1% were buses, trucks, and construction vehicles. The EV market has grown substantially this year, with 1.5 million units sold in just 10 months, exceeding last year’s projections.
Festival Deals Spark An October Sales Boom
October proved to be a perfect month for EV sales, with people rushing to purchase new vehicles during the festival season. OEMs gained not just from huge discounts, but also from the central government’s PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) initiative.
Launched on October 1, the Rs 10,900 crore project, which will span two years, has propelled growth by focusing incentives on all-electric car categories. “The combination of incentives, festive spirit, and auspicious timing acted as the spark plug the EV market needed,” said Preetesh Singh, CASE and Alternative Powertrain Specialist at NRI Consulting & Solutions.
Make Up For The Lost Year
Electric two-wheeler sales, in particular, increased by more than 50 per cent to 1,39,097 units, up from 90,372 in September. Meanwhile, electric three-wheeler sales grew by 7% in October, hitting 67,170 units from 62,901 in September.
Sector experts are optimistic about the upcoming year, given the government’s sustained incentives. They do, however, express worry that the business needs to come up with enhanced goods and services in order to meet rising customer demand.
In September, the electric two-wheeler market leader suffered a setback as hundreds of customers raised concerns about service quality. The Central Consumer Protection Authority sent out a notification in response to over 10,000 customer complaints. According to market observers, such quality flaws could have an influence not just on the company in question, but also on the industry as a whole.
“A few more companies facing issues like Ola could hurt the entire industry,” a sector analyst said.
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