In an indication of growing acceptance of battery-powered vehicles, sales of electric vehicles bounced back strongly with more than 11,000 units (all segments put together) in the month of June helped by gradual lifting of lockdowns across major cities in the country.

The registered EV sales in June witnessed a month-on-month jump of 236 per cent, at 11,149 units (against 3,303 units in May 2021).

The sudden rise with respect to previous month’s sales can be attributed to the easing of lockdown restrictions, says a report of JMK Research.

The overall high speed (HS) electric two-wheeler volumes in June stood at 4,057 units compared with 1,038 units in lockdown-hit May and 5,128 units in April. However, when compared with June 2020 volume of 1401 units, this June volumes were up 190 per cent.

Key players

Four players — Hero Electric, Okinawa, Ampere and Ather — continued to dominate the HS market with a combined market share of 68 per cent share in June sales.

Sales of registered electric three-wheelers ( both passenger and cargo-vehicles) stood at 5,754 units in June against 1,874 units in May and 4,450 units in June 2020.

The share of cargo-type electric 3W in the overall electric 3W volumes sales has been reporting a declining trend over the previous two months (April-May). Analysts attribute this to the lockdown curbs and the absence of public transport systems across the country.

The total sales of electric cars were at 735 units in June compared to 234 units in May and 289 units in June 2020.

Market share

Tata Motors continues to maintain the maximum share in the electric car market with 76 per cent share in June sales, followed by MG Motor at 20 per cent share, said the report.

Among all the States and UTs, Uttar Pradesh continued to have maximum monthly registered EV sales with 27 per cent of overall sales in India in June. Maharashtra occupied the second position with 10 er cent share, followed by Tamil Nadu (9 per cent).

March 2021 was a peak month for the EV industry with each category reporting their highest-ever monthly volumes. The pandemic applied brakes on the sales momentum of EVs during the first two months of this fiscal with major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, among others hitting their peak Covid-19 infections, followed by other cities like Chennai.

The revival in demand for EVs in June is expected to get stronger and volumes are forecast to grow further in the coming months, supported by policy incentives and extension of FAME India Phase 2 programme and the announcement of EV policy by States like Gujarat, among others.

The EV policy of Gujarat seeks to support electrification of 2 lakh vehicles (110,000 two-wheelers, 70,000 three-wheelers and 20,000 cars) over the next 4 years. The combined incentives offered by the Central government’s FAME-II Scheme and the Gujarat EV policy are expected to provide an overall benefit of over ₹60,000 which could make electric two-wheelers price competitive with conventional two-wheelers, a move that may spur mass adoption.

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