India to see sales of 30.81 mn electric vehicles by 2040: Amitabh Kant

The Dollar Business Bureau

 NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amitabh Kant said on Thursday that the strong push by the Government towards e-mobility is targeted towards making India an export hub for electric vehicles.

“The vehicle penetration in the country is the lowest among the developing countries. At present, India has 20 cars per 1,000 people whereas the US has 800 cars,” Kant said while addressing the 57th Annual Convention of SIAM in New Delhi.

“Other countries will have the problem to make the switch to electric but India has the advantage to become the leader because of its low penetration levels. We must make India the export hub for electric vehicles,” he said.

He also said that the country may be slow to embrace electric vehicles right now, but when it takes off, it will adapt very fast. It is estimated that the nation would see sales of 7.30 million electric vehicles by 2030 and 30.81 million electric vehicles by 2040. 

“By the year 2025, the cost of electric vehicles will be in line with a petrol or diesel car. By 2026, sales of electric vehicles worldwide is likely to command 10.4% of overall sales,” he said.

“Our vision is that the Indian car market will achieve zero tail pipe emission by 2040. Shared electric mobility is the future,” he added.

The Government has recently made clear that by 2032, all the vehicles to be sold in the country will be fully electric and for that purpose, various plans have been set into motion. These include buying of electric vehicles by government departments and offices for official purposes as well as by state transport undertakings for use in public transport.

Only 25,000 units of electric vehicles were sold in India in 2016-17, a sharp increase from just 16,000 units sold two years back. 

All major car makers such as M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Toyota, Hyundai and Audi have either started investments in developing electric vehicles or have begun work in planning to manufacture electric vehicles for the future.