Rising fuel prices and increasing pollution levels have pushed up the demand for electric vehicles with electric scooters emerging as the most preferred eco-friendly vehicle in India, with Delhi witnessing maximum demand for both e-scooters and e-vehicles among Tier-I cities, according to Just Dial Consumer Insights released Wednesday.
The demand rise for electric vehicles has been in line with the government’s push towards the adoption of cleaner fuels to control pollution, through subsidies on alternate fuel vehicles. Among electric vehicles, e-scooters witnessed the biggest YOY jump in demand of 220.7% followed by e-cars (132.4%), e-motorcycles (115.3%), and e-cycles (66.8%).
Among Tier-I cities, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru topped the list with maximum demand for e-scooters, followed by Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, and Kolkata. The top-10 Tier-II cities witnessing maximum demand have been Mysore, Indore, Jaipur, Surat, Agra, Jodhpur, Sangli, Vadodara, Nashik, and Chandigarh.
Speaking on this trend, Prasun Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer, Just Dial said, “It is extremely encouraging to see the recent surge in Electric vehicles, which can be taken as a build-up to tackle the concerning pollution levels in the capital and the nation at large, as well as the impending threat of climate change. With the lessons taken from COP26, it is evident that the world would need a strong and sustainable infrastructure to breathe cleaner air.”
Demand for e-motorcycles from Tier-II cities outstripped that from Tier-I. Surat, Rajkot, Amravati, Nagpur, Vijayawada, Salem, Kolhapur, Pondicherry, Varanasi, and Bhavnagar were the top-10 Tier-II cities witnessing maximum demand for e-motorcycles. From Tier-I cities, most of the demand was from Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru followed by Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata.
For electric cars, Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru were the top-3 cities driving most of the demand across Tier-I cities followed by Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata. Among Tier-II cities, Nashik, Lucknow, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Vijayawada, Goa, Surat, Jabalpur, and Visakhapatnam saw maximum demand during this festive season.
The trio of Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata drove the maximum demand for electric bicycles among the Tier-I cities followed by Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad. Most of the demand in the Tier-II towns was driven by Surat, Rajkot, Amravati, Patna, Nagpur, Vijayawada, Salem, Kolhapur, Madurai, and Bhopal.
Earlier on Friday, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said his aim was to make the Indian automobile industry number one in the world, for export of electric vehicles, in five years time.
“India’s future is very bright, presently our automobile industry’s turnover is Rs 7.5 lakh crore. Within five years our it will be more than 15 lakh crore and this is the industry which is generating the highest number of jobs, exports and revenue to state and central governments,” Gadkari said.