India may see 1 cr EV sales per year by 2030, says govt

New Delhi: The country may see 1 crore electric vehicle (EV) sales annually by 2030, generating nearly 5 crore jobs, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has said.

As per the Vahan database, 34.54 lakh EVs are already registered in the country, said the minister during the 19th EV EXPO 2023.

The country has the potential to become the top EV player in the world with the government’s efforts, Gadkari asserted, adding that the Centre has permitted retrofitting of existing polluting vehicles into hybrid and fully EVs.

India’s EV market has the potential to achieve over 40 per cent penetration with $100 billion revenue by 2030, a substantial increase from the current 5 per cent penetration, if the policymakers address some key challenges.

This growth is expected to be driven by strong adoption (over 45 per cent) in both two-wheeler (2W) and three-wheeler (3W) categories, with four-wheelers (cars) penetration projected to grow to more than 20 per cent, according to a recent report by Bain & Company and Blume Ventures.

However, several structural challenges need to be addressed to achieve this potential across five themes – new product development, go-to-market/distribution, customer segment prioritisation, software development, and charging infrastructure, the findings showed.

“India needs both slow and fast-charging infrastructure, through establishing more charging points in existing EV areas, as well as widening pin-code coverage to reduce range anxiety,” said the report.

Electric two-wheeler (E2W) market penetration can grow from 5 per cent to 45 per cent by 2030, provided original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) develop mid-segment scooter products to enable over 50 per cent penetration in the scooter segment and introduce breakthrough entry-level motorcycle offerings.

Electric four-wheeler (E4W) market is expected to initially take off with fleet before passenger segment inflects.

This will require fleet-specific EV models (entry-level cars in mass category) at price points comparable to corresponding ICE products, said the report.