The British International Investment (BII), the United Kingdom’s development finance institution, has committed $33.5 million to India’s electric vehicle (EV) sector. This funding aims to strengthen the EV ecosystem, drive technological advancements, and address barriers to adoption, contributing to India’s energy transition and decarbonization goals.

The investment by BII includes $15 million in debt financing for Everest Fleet, enabling the company to expand its EV portfolio by adding 1,300 electric vehicles across six cities, including Bengaluru and Delhi. This move is expected to create employment opportunities for drivers and boost zero-emission vehicle adoption in urban areas.

Additionally, TI Clean Mobility will receive $15 million in equity investment to scale its manufacturing of low-carbon vehicles, including electric three-wheelers, trucks, and tractors.

BII will also provide $3.5 million in equity to Vecmocon, which the company will use to enhance research and development for EV components like battery management systems and motor controllers and expand its presence in the commercial EV market.

BII’s investments align with its strategy of channeling $1 billion into climate-mitigating initiatives in India. Recent funding has also supported companies like ChargeZone, which targets building 10,000 EV charging stations by 2027, and Battery Smart, a battery-swapping network.

These initiatives by BII complement earlier commitments, such as the $250 million partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra to develop passenger EVs.

EV sales in India reached 332,730 units in the third quarter of 2024, a decline of over 11% year-over-year against the 372,387 units sold in the same period of 2023. EVs account for 5.8% of overall automobile sales, which totaled 5,697,879 units during the quarter. India now has 4.64 million registered EVs.

In September, the government approved the ‘PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Program,’ and the ‘PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) Program.’ The PM E-DRIVE Program, with a total outlay of ₹109 billion (~$1.29 billion), focuses on providing demand incentives, deploying EVs, and developing charging infrastructure to support wider EV adoption.