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India's electric vehicle (EV) industry has touched the milestone of one million unit sales in the financial year 2023 (FY23), with the two-wheeler segment leading the way, according to the industry body Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV).
Though the electric two-wheeler (E2W) segment contributed 61 per cent to the overall electric vehicle sales of 1,177,938 units, it fell significantly short of the targets set by the Niti Aayog, the industry body said.
Though the electric two-wheeler (E2W) segment contributed 61 per cent to the overall electric vehicle sales of 1,177,938 units, it fell significantly short of the targets set by the Niti Aayog, the industry body said.
In the E2W segment, the industry sold 7,26,976 high-speed E2W (speed>25km/hr) as against the NITI Aayog's projection of 1 million plus E2W sales in FY23.
Electric three-wheelers sales took the second spot at 34 per cent with 4,01,841 units, whereas just 4 per cent or 47,217 units of four-wheelers were sold, and electric buses stood at 1,904 units or 0.16 per cent.
"The E2W adoption fell month-on-month (MoM) over the targets ending with an annual shortfall of more than 25 per cent over the minimum target set by Niti Aayog and various research organisations," SMEV said in a statement.
The industry body said it was not the consumer demand but the sudden withholding of more than the Rs 1,200 crore subsidy already passed on by the majority of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to the customers on the pretext of delay in the localisation that affected sales of E2Ws.
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Another Rs 400 crore of the OEMs operating in the premium end also got stuck due to the allegation of under-invoicing to bypass the FAME norms leading to the crippling of their business operations due to extreme shortage of working capital, SMEV said.
Sohinder Gill, DG SMEV, claimed that the revised FAME2 had a dramatic effect on E2W adoption as it decreased their prices by around 35 per cent said, "This started attracting the component supply chain that had earlier shunned anything to do with E2WS because of extremely low volumes and it is only in the late 2021, suppliers started queuing up to OEMS to show their eagerness of developing EV components."
It took most of these suppliers 12-18 months, the usual time it takes to localise, and now most of them have started setting up sufficient capacities, Gill said.
Referring to the controversy over subsidy claims and localisation content per vehicle, Gill added, "Some persons with malicious intent unleashed a campaign to put a stop to this dream run. These persons must be rejoicing the complete derailment of the EV mission of India by forcing the policy makers to take a "black or white" position on the policy rather than a pragmatic approach of flexibility in the implementation due to factors beyond the control of the OEMs."
However, the EV industry grew by 62 per cent since FY22, when 7,26,861 EV units were sold.
With only 5 per cent adoption in FY23, the short-term goal of 30 per cent, and the EV mission of 80 per cent adoption by 2030 looks more like a mirage, Gill said
