NEW DELHI: Though the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country is growing more rapidly than non-electric vehicles, the number of registered EVs at present is still not even one percent of non-EVs.
According to the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), in the last 10 years, the registration of EVs across states has increased by more than 50 times while India has witnessed just a 2.5-fold jump in non-EV registration during the same period.
As per the details provided by Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, 53,387 EVs and nearly 14.27 crore non-EVs were registered in all states and Union territories (UTs) excluding Telangana and Lakshadweep till December 31, 2013.
The minister's reply established that the number of EVs has increased considerably since then. About 28.30 lakh EVs are registered, as on August 3, in the centralized database of the government, he informed. The records show that between December, 31 2013 and August 3, about 20.27 crore new non-EVs were registered.
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Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MP B Lingaiah Yadav had sought to know the ‘overall share of EVs’ and ‘disparity of penetration of EVs’ in the states and UTs.
“Presently, EVs are 0.81 percent of the total vehicles as on August 3, 2023,” stated the reply of the minister.
The ministry’s reply further stated that the highest numbers of EVs are registered in Uttar Pradesh followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka. There are 5.74 lakh EVs in UP while Maharashtra and Karnataka have 3.05 lakh and 2.48 lakh vehicles powered by electricity respectively. With 2.33 lakh EVs, Delhi is at fourth position and the next state in the list is Rajasthan, which has 1.80 lakh EVs registered.
UP is also on top in the non-EV category with 4.38 crore vehicles. Maharashtra has the second highest number of non-EVs (3.43 crore) and with 3.16 crore non-EVs, Tamil Nadu stands at third position. The other two states having significantly higher numbers of non-EVs registered are Karnataka (2.97 crore) and Gujarat (2.28 crore).