The logo of NITI Aayog.
Credit: X/@NITIAayog
New Delhi: India’s transition to electric vehicles has been slow with just around 7.6% of the sales in 2024 being electric, far behind its target of 30% by 2030, Niti Aayog said on Monday.
“India is doing well with electric two-wheelers and electric-three wheelers. With regard to electric buses, it has made some progress but with electric cars it has been slow. Long haul electric trucks have virtually not taken off,” the government think tank said in a report.
High cost and concerns about battery range and charging infrastructure are among the major reasons for the low EV adoption in the country, NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba told reporters.
He added that the lack of a unified app for locating charging stations and booking slots are other major issues impacting customer experience.
Gauba, a former Cabinet Secretary, suggested that large institutional buying by different government departments and institutions would help accelerate EV adoption in the country.
“Large organisations, government departments, and public sector undertakings, which have a large fleet of buses and cars, should lead by example,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NITI Aayog on Monday launched the India Electric Mobility Index (IEMI), a first-of-its-kind tool developed to comprehensively track and benchmark the progress of states and Union Territories (UTs) in achieving their electric mobility goals.
Delhi, Maharashtra and Chandigarh have emerged as frontrunners in the index, which assesses performance across three themes of EV adoption, charging infrastructure readiness and EV technology and innovation.
In transport electrification, Delhi and Maharashtra are the frontrunners while Haryana, Karnataka, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh lead in charging infrastructure readiness.
In terms of EV research and innovation, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana and Telangana stand out as front runners.
“The IEMI provides a transparent, comparative framework to assess progress across key themes such as electrification, infrastructure, and innovation. It enables states to benchmark their efforts, identify gaps, and learn from each other’s successes,” said Gauba.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has set a target to attain a 30% share of electric vehicles, in the total vehicles sold, by 2030.
Though there has been a substantial increase in the sale of EVs in the past one decade, the progress is not upto the targeted level.
Sales of EVs in India went up from 50,000 in 2016 to 20.8 lakh in 2024. During this period global EV sales jumped from 918,000 units to 1.87 crore units.
“India’s transition has been slow to start, but it is picking up. India’s EV penetration was only about one-fifth of the global penetration in 2020, but has picked up to over two-fifth of the global penetration in 2024. It continues to show an increasing trend, though relatively slow,” Niti Aayog said.