India’s electric vehicle sales declined 20% to 2,36,802 units in FY2020-21

India’s sales of EVs declined 20 per cent to 2,36,802 units in the financial year 2020-21, from 2,95,683 units  in the financial year 2019-20 as per data revealed by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicle (SMEV).

SMEV Director-General Sohinder Gill said, "we were anticipating a good growth before the start of FY21, but sales remained stagnant due to various reasons. The sales in the electric three-wheeler and two-wheeler segment stood low as compared to last year."

A good thing has happened that people have started moving towards advanced lithium ion batteries and the city-speed and high-speed category in the two-wheeler segment have witnessed growth.

However, a lot more needs to be done to achieve the target under the FAME II scheme. Timely intervention by the government in a form of policy change is required to fuel the growth and achieve the target by the end of FY22," Gill concluded.

The sale of electric two-wheelers dropped by 6 per cent to 1,43,837 units in FY21, which includes 40,836 high-speed and 1,03,000 low-speed electric two-wheelers. The electric three-wheelers segment stood at 88,378 units from 140,683 units sold in FY20.

In the electric four-wheelers segment, sales came in at 4,588 units as against 3,000 units in FY20. That was a growth of 53 per cent.

In terms of charging infrastructure, SMEV said around 1,300 charging stations have been set up till now.

"Many corporates have ventured into the segment and started installing charging stations across the country. We anticipate that in the next 5-6 years, we would be able to create robust charging infrastructure in the country.”