The rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and their increasing popularity indicate they are no longer a short-term trend but a viable alternative to internal combustion automobiles.

EV sales stood at 257,278 units in the third quarter (Q3) of the calendar year 2022. This represents a 183% year-over-year (YoY) growth compared to the 90,831 units sold in the same period last year. The numbers were revealed in the data released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways through its Vahan Dashboard.

As of December 8, 2022, India had more than 1.8 million registered electric vehicles (EVs), with Uttar Pradesh accounting for nearly 23% of the total at 0.41 million, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, said in the Lok Sabha.

More than half of the total EVs in the country are three-wheelers used for commercial transport, followed by 800,000 two-wheelers meant for personal use. At present, the country has roughly 5,151 operational EV charging stations.

Both Centre and state governments have issued enabling policies for the widespread adoption of EVs to align with emission goals in 2050.

Central government policies 

In January, the Ministry of Power (MoP) issued revised guidelines for EV charging infrastructure. These guidelines helped set the timelines for providing grid connectivity for installing public charging stations.

Further, the guidelines aim to enable faster adoption of EVs in India by ensuring safe, reliable, accessible, and affordable charging infrastructure and ecosystem. Another objective is to provide affordable tariffs for charging station operators/owners and EV owners and proactively support the creation of EV charging infrastructure.

In March, the Ministry of Heavy Industries approved 2,877 EV charging stations in 68 cities across 25 states and union territories under the second phase of the faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles (FAME-II) program.

FAME-II was initially intended for three years ending March 31, 2022. The program was extended in 2021 by 24 months until March 31, 2024. FAME India is part of the National Electricity Mobility Mission Plan, which was launched to push for early adoption and market creation for both hybrids and EVs.

In April, NITI Aayog issued the draft battery-swapping policy addressing the key technical, regulatory, institutional, and financing challenges to help India develop battery-swapping ecosystems to unlock the large-scale adoption of battery-swapping.

State Policies

In September, the Rajasthan EV policy laid out the incentives to support the adoption of EVs. The state sought to promote EV manufacturing and related industries and set up a wide network of charging stations.

The Chhattisgarh State Electric Vehicle Policy, 2022 aims to accelerate the adoption of EVs and has targeted 15% of all vehicle registrations to be battery electric vehicles in the state by 2027.

Chandigarh has targeted 70% of all new vehicle registrations in the Union Territory to be EVs in the next five years. As per the state policy, Chandigarh plans to establish itself as a ‘Model EV City’ by achieving one of the highest penetrations of zero-emission vehicles amongst all Indian cities.

Over the past couple of years,  several states, including Assam, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Gujarat, have introduced policies to bolster EV and related-infrastructure production in recent times.

Battery Amendments

In a major development, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in September amended the battery safety standards to prevent fire incidents in electric two-wheelers (E2W).

The amendments demanded additional safety requirements related to battery cells, battery management systems, onboard chargers, battery pack design, and thermal propagation due to internal cell short circuits leading to fires.

Later on, the ministry extended the implementation of amendments to EV battery testing standards from October 1, 2022, to December 2022 and March 2023. The amendments to the EV battery testing standards -Automotive Industry Standards (AIS)-156 and AIS-038 – will now be implemented in two phases.

The Bureau of Indian Standards issued performance standards for EV batteries to ensure the safety of consumers following reports of EV fires across the country. Various tests were incorporated into these standards, formulated considering real-life scenarios for an electric vehicle, such as when the vehicle is in parking, where the battery is not used for an extended period, etc.

Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had earlier warned that any EV company found to be negligent in its manufacturing process will face heavy penalties, and a recall of all defective vehicles will be ordered. He wanted EV companies to take pre-emptive action to recall all defective batches of vehicles immediately.