The COVID-19 pandemic critically paralysed the auto industry, and the disturbance had its influence on interest in electric cars, electric two-wheelers and electric three-wheelers.
As per the Society of Electric Vehicle Manufacturers, (SMEV) registration of all-electric vehicles throughout FY21 diminished 20 per cent to 236,802 units as upon 295,683 units retailed in FY20.
Electric two-wheelers (E2W), the most comprehensive section of the three, beheld a deterioration of 6 per cent. Electric two-wheeler volumes finished FY21 at 143,837 units as distinguished to 152,000 sold in FY20. A total of 40,836 high-speed and 103,000 low-speed E2Ws were traded during FY21.
Electric three-wheelers (E3W) saw the supreme influence of the pandemic just like the fossil-fuel-powered three-wheeler share. The E3W segment recorded sales of 88,378 units, a fall of 37 percent as against 140, 683 units sold in FY20. The data does not constitute E3Ws that are not listed with the transport authority, SMEV explained.
Sohinder Gill, Director-General, SMEV 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. The city speed and high-speed category in the two-wheelers have witnessed growth.”
However, electric passenger vehicles strike the trend, recording a growth. During FY21, electric passenger vehicles grew by 54 per cent to 4,588 units as against 3,000 units in FY20. The sales were divided into just six models Tata Nexon EV, Tata Tigor EV, Mahindra eVerito, MG ZS EV, Hyundai Kona and the Mercedes-Benz EQC.
Tata Motors is the chief in the electric passenger vehicle segment with the Nexon EV being the best-selling model in the industry accompanied by the MG ZS EV.
The accumulation of lithium-ion battery packs crashed in FY21 due to the pandemic and rested upset for several weeks. This was accompanied by suppression by the government on purchases coming from China which repeatedly paralyzed the battery supply. India depends on China, which has a patent in lithium-ion cells, for manufacturing battery packs.
SMEV criticized the lack of interest bestowed by banks to finance electric vehicles. “Only a few banks like SBI and Axis, to name a few, are offering loans on selected models. The government should ask banks to offer loans on electric vehicles, which will increase sales,” SMEV said in a release. We were anticipating good growth before the start of FY21 but sales remained stagnant- SOHINDER GILL
During FY21, the government approved the delegation of electric vehicles without their batteries which was a measure taken to promote sales of battery swapping technology. Only some of the members chiefly captivated in electric two-wheelers, make vehicles with battery swapping technology.
SMEV furthermore asserted that the sale from the e-commerce players such as Flipkart and Amazon would encourage sales of electric two and three-wheelers over the following two-three years.
