Electric vehicles now become the most important part of today’s transport system. In the starting when EVs were new in the Indian transport market at that time the sales of these types of vehicles were so slow and buyers were so scared to buy electric vehicles. According to a report the first electric vehicle was launched in India in 1996, and the first electric vehicle was a three-wheeler. VIKRAM SAFA was the first scooter which was invented by Scooter’s India Pvt Ltd. Overall 400 vehicles were made and sold in India and it was the first ever sale of an EV. In 2000, BHEL developed an eighteen-seater electric bus, which became popular too.
If we talk about the first ever electric car in the world so, it was Around 1832, when Robert Anderson made their first crude electric vehicle. according to the report, the car was not able to complete till the 1970s after then it became practical. Anyways back to the point which was sales of EVs in India. Well, we will discuss the sales in two parts:
Sales of electric Two-wheelers(E2W)
Sales of electric four-wheelers(E4W)
According to the current report on Indian sales data by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in the 1st half (1H) of the calendar year 2022, the retail sales of electric vehicles are notified as 401,100 units. This unit ratio represents the 350% growth in comparison to the same last period of units sold which was 100,000 units.
If we start from the beginning of the year so,
sales report of overall electric vehicles in the first half of 2022.
SN. Month Units of sales overall electric vehicles
1. January 49,168
2 February 56,000
3. March 76,000
4. April 73,200
5. May 67,079
6. June 71,463
According to the evaluation, the lowest selling was in the month of January and March is the highest selling month of this 1st half as you can into the table. The EV sales (390,399) in 1H 2022 surpassed the sale of EVs in the entire year of 2021 (311,420).
The first electric vehicle 4-wheelers was launched in the market was General Motors released the EV1 – the first mass-produced, purpose-built modern electric car from one of the industry’s key players In 1996. In India, the sales of 4-wheelers in electric vehicles are less active than the electric 2-wheelers. According to the study of the sales data of both E2W and E4W both have very much differences. You can better able to understand this by this table:
SN. Month Units of sales overall electric vehicles
E2W E4W All EVs
1. January 27,600 204 units 27,804
2. February 32,200 144 units 32,344
3. March 50,600 66 units 50,666
4. April 50,200 460 units 50,860
5. May 40,079 700 units 40,779
6. June 42,262 304 units 42,566
Total sales 242,941 1,878 units 244,819
According to this table 242,941, E2W was sold in 1H of 2022 which is absolutely a growth than the units sold in the same period of last year which was 31,823 units. Okinawa led E2W sales in the first half of the year. Hero Electric Vehicles, Ola Electric, Ampere, and Ather Energy were the other market leaders.
By the informative data, the sales of E2W are increasing day by day which is very good but the bad and very serious matter is the shortage of sales in the E4W in India. Now the question arises what exactly is the reason for the low sales ratio in India? The rising sales of E2Ws are a positive sign as they account for over 70% of all the registered vehicles in India.
Not even according to the report by the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), E2W sales will increase till 2030 if the battery price of the E2W will reduce by 9% CAGR. If the battery prices decrease so the demand for the 2-wheelers will increase so and the sales ratio will also be increased. Vehicle power increases by 20% by FY 2024, and demand incentives continue until FY 2031. To the prediction by the NITI Aayog the sales of E2W will increase by 22.02 million by FY 2031.
Note: Due to the use of E2W there are very many improvements in pollution. There is forecasting that if EVs continue to use so the pollution on the earth will be reduced by 70%.
Now talking about the E4W so there is very slow growth in the sales of the 4-wheelers. We were asking the question what exactly the reason for the lowest sales of E4W. So according to my opinion, the prices of Electric cars are so high in India and a country like India where lots of people who belong from the middle- class family can not afford these cars. So they can just have money to buy E2W. But recently there is news comes out in which a company Ahembdabaad called Gensol Engineering has claimed that they will finally launch the cheapest electric car ever in India which is around 6 lakh Rs. But this process is in the pipeline we don’t know when it will start and launch in the market.
According to the table of the E4W, the ratio of sales of this year 1st half is quite ok then the same phase of the previous year. Tata Motors’ passenger vehicles department led E4W sales during the period. Mahindra & Mahindra, MG Motor India, and BYD Auto were the other companies that topped the sales list.