Electric Vehicles in India

A decade of EV policy

• India’s EV push began in 2015, with the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 and the FAME India scheme.
• FAME India Phase I ended in March 2019.
• Phase II ended in April 2024, after ₹11,500 crore in support, 16.72 lakh EVs sold and 5,197 e-buses deployed.
• In 2024, PM E-DRIVE and SPMEPCI both launched. One supports sales, the other domestic manufacturing.

The 46x growth story

• EV share of sales grew from about 0.08% in FY 2015-16 to 8.26% in FY 2025-26.
• Unit sales grew roughly 46 times since 2016, from about 50,000 to 2.3 million in 2025.
• The world grew roughly 20-fold over the same period.
• Growth came mostly from two-wheelers and three-wheelers, not passenger cars.

The 2030 target

• India’s stated target is 30% of vehicle sales electric by 2030.
• It is aligned with the 2070 net-zero commitment.

Exports

• EV exports rose from $1.2 million in 2020 to $84 million in 2024.
• Nepal, Indonesia and Japan are the main destinations.

Leading States in 2025

• Uttar Pradesh: over 4 lakh units, an 18% share.
• Maharashtra: 2.66 lakh, 12%. See Maharashtra: India’s Economic Powerhouse.
• Karnataka: 2 lakh, 9%. See Karnataka: Silicon Valley of India and the Vijayanagara Legacy.

Charging infrastructure

• As of July 2026, India had 52,718 public charging stations.
• Of these, 16,561 have fast-charging capability.
• The government’s e-Amrit tool helps drivers find them.

Why DC fast charging is fast

• Most fast chargers use DC. They convert power at the station and feed it straight into the battery.
• That skips the car’s slower onboard converter and cuts an 80% charge to 20–40 minutes.
• Ordinary AC chargers, like those at home, use the onboard converter.
• A full charge this way can take up to 12 hours.
• So AC suits overnight home charging, not a highway stop.

The Electric Mobility Index

• NITI Aayog launched the India Electric Mobility Index (IEMI) in August 2025.
• It scores States on 16 indicators across transport electrification, charging infrastructure and EV research.
• Delhi, Maharashtra and Chandigarh are the top “Frontrunner” States. See Chandigarh: The City Beautiful.

Manufacturing and startups

• Suzuki’s e VITARA launched in August 2025 at its Gujarat plant. It is India’s first Made-in-India global Battery EV, and it exports to over 100 countries. See Gujarat: India’s Longest Coastline and Its Industrial Rise.
• India has roughly 400 EV startups.
• The sector raised over $1.4 billion in FY 2025, about 27% more than in 2024.
• Delhi is the top city for EV investment.

PM E-DRIVE

• It has a ₹10,900 crore outlay, launched in 2024 under the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
• It targets over 28 lakh EVs.
• It includes ₹4,391 crore for 14,028 e-buses across nine major cities.
• It includes ₹2,000 crore for public charging stations.
• It includes ₹780 crore to modernise testing agencies.

Other schemes

• PM e-Bus Sewa-PSM (2024) supports 10,000 e-buses through a public-private partnership.
• SPMEPCI (2024) needs EV car makers to invest at least ₹4,150 crore.
• It also needs them to raise Domestic Value Addition from 25% to 50% by year five.
• PLI-Auto (2021) has a full outlay of ₹25,938 crore, against a ₹42,500 crore investment target by March 2027.
• PLI-ACC (2021) has ₹18,100 crore and targets 50 GWh of cumulative battery capacity. Its performance phase runs 2025 to 2029.

Why batteries matter

• Batteries make up 35–40% of an EV’s cost, the single largest part.
• So domestic ACC manufacturing matters for cutting vehicle prices.

LFP versus NMC

• NMC cells pack more energy per kilogram, so they give longer range for the same weight.
• LFP cells hold less energy per kilogram, but cost roughly 30–40% less.
• LFP is also more heat-tolerant and needs no cobalt, an expensive and hard-to-source metal.
• So LFP is the default for most Indian EVs, given India’s climate and price-sensitive market.
• NMC still leads in premium models, where range and lower weight justify the cost.

State policies and fuel norms

• As of December 2025, 29 States and Union Territories had notified their own EV policies.
• These offer capital subsidies of 15–25%, SGST reimbursement of up to 100% and a concessional 5% GST rate.
• CAFE III (2027–2032) targets 91.7 g CO2/km. CAFE IV (2033–2037) targets 70 g CO2/km.
• Meeting these fleet averages gets harder with petrol and diesel lineups alone.

Part of a wider push

• EVs are one piece of the clean-energy push. See Solar Energy in India and GOBARdhan: National Circular Bioenergy Scheme.

PM E-DRIVE scale

• As of 22 July 2026, PM E-DRIVE had supported 26.54 lakh EVs, against its 28 lakh target. That included 23.79 lakh electric two-wheelers and 2.68 lakh electric three-wheelers. (Source: PIB)
• Maharashtra led with 4.28 lakh EVs supported, then Uttar Pradesh (2.78 lakh) and Karnataka (2.67 lakh).
• ₹689 crore was separately approved for 6,562 new chargers, across 3 oil companies and 9 States. (Source: ANI, PIB)

E-buses: sanctioned versus deployed

• As of 4 August 2026, PM e-Bus Sewa-PSM covered 27,555 of a targeted 38,000 e-buses, across MoHUA, PM E-DRIVE and State schemes. (Source: PIB)
• Only 523 e-buses were actually deployed as of 10 July 2026, well behind the sanctioned count.
• Odisha’s 400 allocated e-buses had zero deployment as of early August. That is a real gap between approval and delivery.

PLI-Auto and rare earth magnets

• PLI-Auto’s cumulative disbursement reached about ₹2,386 crore, against its ₹25,938 crore outlay. (Source: PIB)
• On 21 July 2026, the Cabinet’s ₹7,280 crore Rare Earth Permanent Magnet scheme was detailed in the Lok Sabha. (Source: PIB)
• India imports all its sintered NdFeB magnets, despite finding 767 million tonnes of rare earth ore since 2015.
• EVs are projected to need 3,250 MTPA of rare earth magnets by 2030, the largest single use. Wind turbines follow at 1,800 MTPA.
• That import dependence is a real bottleneck for EV manufacturing.

Incentives and a security flag

• GST on EVs and chargers stands at 5%.
• EVs also get green licence plates, and the Road Transport Ministry has advised States to waive road tax on EVs.
• CERT-In flagged a Bluetooth weakness in the Battery Management Systems of low-cost e-rickshaws. Default or missing credentials let outsiders power off moving vehicles remotely. The Ministry of Heavy Industries has advised SIAM and ACMA. (Source: PIB)
• Delhi launched a ₹9,585 crore scrappage-linked EV scheme in June 2026. It aims to replace about 2.07 lakh old commercial vehicles across Delhi-NCR. (Source: Business Standard)