2022 has been an thrilling yr for the Indian EV market. Therefore it is sensible to take inventory of issues on the place we’re and what the highway forward appears to be like like.
Picture from TATA Motors
By Lakshmisha Okay S
All the info right here has been sourced by the Indian central (federal) dashboard (Vahan portal). The portal aggregates knowledge from all of the RTO (Regional Transport Places of work) the place automobiles are registered. Nevertheless, not all states have onboarded onto Vahan. Presently of the 36 States and Union Territories, 34 have onboarded. And of the 1428 RTOs, 1341 are registered with Vahan. The information that’s used accounts for 90–95% of all automobile gross sales in India. Therefore we is not going to be taking a look at absolute figures as they aren’t full, however we are able to have a look at the share of electrical automobiles in every section and market share of varied manufacturers. As these are proportional knowledge, they’d be extra nearer to precise figures and we are able to take the info from a directional sense.
At a high stage, throughout automobile segments, we’ve seen super progress in electrical automobiles. The explanations are frequent throughout the segments. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the following spike in oil costs has actually pushed extra customers to electrical as value of working electrical begins to outweigh the upper value of acquisition. Moreover, the Indian authorities’s beneficiant subsidy through FAME II, coupled with subsidies from the state/provincial governments, have offered a serving to hand.
We are going to divide the Indian auto section into 4 broad segments as is the norm within the automotive media right here. They’re
1) Two-wheelers — These embody all powered two-wheeled automobiles which have a most velocity above 25 km per hour. They’re broadly of two classes — Scooters and Bikes.
2) Three-wheelers — These are three-wheeled automobiles (Tuk Tuks, Rickshaws) and embody each used for shifting individuals and items.
3) Passenger automobiles — These primarily embody vehicles and different automobiles used for private mobility with greater than 3 wheels. For sensible functions, we are able to assume this to be equal to vehicles.
4) Industrial automobiles — These embody a variety of automobiles from giant vans, buses to mini vans and smaller good carriers.

Ather 450X, Indian Two-Wheeler Business Is Dealing with Its Osborne Second
Electrical Two-Wheelers
Allow us to begin with the star performer of 2022. Gross sales of electrical two-wheelers skyrocketed in 2022. The share of e-two-wheelers jumped from 1.1% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2022. That’s practically a 260% soar from final yr. Simply to present an concept of the change, in January 2021, Vahaan portal tracked gross sales of 5,264 electrical two-wheelers accounting for a mere 0.4% of complete gross sales. Come again to January 2022, the portal tracked gross sales of 29,748 automobiles accounting for two.62% of complete two-wheeler gross sales. This has additional elevated by December 2022, with Vahaan monitoring 64,476 gross sales accounting for five.7% of complete two-wheeler gross sales.
The rise in FAME II subsidy for two-wheelers helped on this turbo-charged progress. At Rs. 15,000 per kwh ($185 per kwh), it makes the battery virtually free for producers, thus serving to them to succeed in value parity with ICE alternate options. Moreover the launch of Ola electrical with its revolutionary electrical scooters (S1 and S1 professional) created a whole lot of buzz amongst frequent people exterior of the standard EV fans. That is mirrored in Ola electrical reaching the highest spot inside a yr of launch within the two-wheeler EV house.

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Outlook For 2023
Whereas 2022 was a stellar yr, anticipate 2023 to see the expansion momentum enhance additional. Ola electrical has introduced its most reasonably priced electrical scooter S1 Air. At a value of Rs.84,999 (~$1000), it’s akin to high promoting two-wheeler mannequin from Honda motors (Honda energetic) in value. Honda energetic accounts for practically half of the whole scooter market or 12–13% of general ICE two-wheeler market.
[Side note: Like its Japanese parent, Honda is dithering in launching electric variants in India. If Ola S1 Air succeeds, expect to see serious impact on market share for Honda in the two-wheeler market as 60% of its sales comes from the scooter segment and majority of the electric transition is happening in this segment rather than in the other (motorcycles) segment.]
Given the sturdy efficiency of Ola electrical in 2022, the expectations are excessive for this mannequin. Ola electrical Founder & CEO expects to promote a complete of 1 million models by November 2023 throughout all fashions translating to a month-to-month run fee of 100,000 models, which is almost 10x of the present run fee and 2x of all electrical two-wheeler gross sales. Along with new manufacturers like Easy Power and new fashions and elevated manufacturing from present gamers like Ather Power, I predict electrical share of the Indian two-wheeler market to succeed in double digits in 2023. I anticipate to exit the yr with a EV share of 13–15% in December 2023.
That is important achievement as a result of India has extra two-wheelers than vehicles (practically 5x by way of possession). Almost 62% of petrol consumption within the nation is accounted by two-wheelers. Therefore a fast transition into electrical will lead to reductions in emissions, specifically within the congested metropolitan areas.
Automobiles (Passenger Automobiles)
Now coming to vehicles that are termed as Passenger Automobiles, gross sales of electrical (BEVs) stood at 1.1% in 2022. Whereas it is a small share, it did soar 3x from 0.33% in 2021. What makes these figures important is that almost all (60–70%) of that is contributed by a single mannequin — the Tata Nexon EV from Tata Motors. India is a market pushed by affordability, with the typical promoting value of automotive at $12,500 and the most cost effective electrical automotive obtainable in 2022 being greater than that.
A significant cause for the low share is the shortage of choices to clients. The Indian automotive market is dominated by three teams — Japanese manufacturers (Suzuki & Toyota), Korean (Hyundai & Kia), and Indian manufacturers (Tata Motors & Mahindra & Mahindra). Amongst them solely Tata Motor has to-date made severe efforts at reasonably priced electrical vehicles. The Korean manufacturers do have electrical automotive choices of their portfolio, however with a beginning value of $30,000 which is 3x the typical promoting value, the potential is proscribed. In the meantime Japanese manufacturers like in all places else aren’t even concerned about providing electrical and would possibly consider doing so in 2030! They’re nonetheless taking a look at introducing out of date hybrid expertise to India.

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Outlook For 2023
2023 is anticipated to be a breakthrough yr for electrical automotive market in India. The electrical market chief Tata Motors is launching probably the most reasonably priced electrical automotive but in India, the Tata Tiago, beginning at $10,500. The automotive has already seen enthusiastic response with the primary 10,000 bookings getting closed inside 24 hours, forcing the producer to increase the primary reserving measurement to twenty,000. The automotive has a ready interval of 4 months even earlier than launch. The automotive is anticipated to go on sale in Q1 of 2023 and market analysts anticipate the automotive to promote 3000 to 5000 models per 30 days, equal to 1–2% of general automotive market (together with ICE variants). We even have Mahindra & Mahindra launching the XUV400, its first electrical SUV, the all-electric SUV will probably be priced from INR 15.99 lakh (about $19,500) much like Tata Nexon EV (the present market chief). The Mahindra & Mahindra XUV400 can be anticipated to begin supply in Q1 2023. Including all this up, we are able to anticipate the electrical market share to hit 2–4% in 2023 with an exit share of 4+% in December 2023. Whereas that is nonetheless far behind the likes of Europe and China, being the third largest automobile market (4th if EU is included as one) the tempo of electrification continues to be vital.
Three-Wheelers
India is the biggest marketplace for three-wheelers which incorporates each passenger and cargo automobiles. India has round 6 million of those on highway. Amongst all of the automobile segments, this section has actually leaped ahead with respect to electrification. The electrical share of three-wheeler market stood at 54% in 2022 up from 43% in 2021.
Outlook 2023
We will anticipate the momentum in direction of electrification to proceed in 2023, albeit at a gradual tempo. Bajaj Auto, which has 60% share within the ICE three-wheeler market and whose model is synonymous with three-wheelers, is but to come back out with an electrical variant. Moreover, a big share of the market (31% in 2022) is manufactured from CNG variants. Even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the working value differential between the electrical and CNG variants will not be important sufficient to push the market utterly to electrical. I anticipate the electrical market share to hit 60–65% in 2023.
Industrial Automobiles
Industrial automobiles in India span a variety of vehicular segments and embody buses, heavy responsibility vans, gentle passenger and cargo vans amongst others. As anticipated and seen globally, the penetration of electrical automobiles on this section is proscribed. The share of electrical automobiles within the general business automobiles section is 0.3% in 2022. This has remained comparable (with a slight dip) from 2021 when the share was 0.37%. Allow us to have a look at the broad sub-segments of this class.
Buses — Like the remainder of the world, that is the place most of electrification is happening. Buses in India are a mixture of non-public owned automobiles and authorities owned ones. Authorities owned ones embody each municipal and inside metropolis city transportation ones and lengthy distance intra-city journey. General this section accounts for 20% of complete business automobile gross sales in India. Majority of the electrification is occurring within the municipal/metropolis transportation section. There are 28 states and eight union territories (federally administered) which every working totally different companies within the cities of their jurisdiction, therefore anticipate the transition to occur in bits and items with totally different companies following totally different fashions. One factor to be famous is the union authorities (federal) initiative to pool in all the electrical bus necessities right into a single tender and thus attaining economies of scale. That is anticipated to expedite the transition.
Vans — Primarily talking, these are equal to the semis within the US and never be confused with the cybertruck class. They do each brief and lengthy haul cargo transportation. Together with each medium and heavy responsibility vans, this section accounts for 20% of the business automobile gross sales in India. There may be minimal electrification on this section with just one or two electrical variants available in the market for medium haulage. See this to proceed for the following few years till we see extra choices at an reasonably priced value obtainable available in the market.
Vans — This section is presently has seen little electrification, nonetheless it’s ripe for disruption. This section accounts for 60% of the general business automobile section. A mixture of progress of organized and e-commerce retail gamers by the likes of Amazon and Flipkart mixed with aggressive internet zero targets by these corporations is pushing electrification on this section. These group are large clients for this vehicular section with want for first and final mile logistics. Tata Motors once more has launched its providing of a small four-wheeler cargo supply automobile, the Tata Ace EV. Deliveries of the identical have began in Q1 2023. With an order e book of 39,000 automobiles from the above e-commerce corporations, one can anticipate the electrical share of automobiles bought on this section to develop, relying solely on the ramp of provide by Tata Motors.
Abstract
We will see that Indian vehicular electrification is lastly gaining tempo throughout segments with some segments racing forward and a few nonetheless lagging behind however nonetheless shifting forward. Summarizing, we see that every of the section is on the assorted factors of adoption S-curve.

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2023 will probably be a get away yr for each two-wheelers and vehicles and business automobiles ought to lastly see some transition in direction of electrical, whereas the three-wheeler market will proceed its regular progress.