4 lakh e-vehicles in India, 50% of them in Delhi, UP

Currently there are nearly four lakh registered electric or battery operated vehicles in India and half of them are in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, according to road transport ministry’s data. Sources said most of these vehicles are e-rickshaws and e-carts, which got legal status after Parliament passed a law in March 2015 to recognise these as motor vehicles.
In a written reply, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has informed the Lok Sabha that UP has 1.39 lakh registered electric vehicles followed by nearly 75,600 in Delhi. Karnataka has third highest number of registered e-vehicles and Maharashtra comes next. Interestingly, Assam also has a high number of evehicles (15,192) among all northeastern states and more than many states in north, south and western India.

Sources said the actual number of electric vehicles would be much more than the official figure. This is because thousands of e-rickshaws have been operating across country without registration. This is despite the transport ministry in August 2016 coming out with a notification exempting e-rickshaws and e-carts from obtaining commercial permits to carry passengers or goods. This was done considering that these are “affordable” mode of transport for last mile connectivity in cities and also in rural areas.

The transport ministry in October 2018 also came out with the notification granting exemption to battery operated commercial vehicles and those running on ethanol and methanol from the requirements of permits.

Gadkari has also proposed exemption of registration fee for EVs to promote the use of ecofriendly vehicles in the country and it has sought comments and objections from all stakeholders before taking a final decision.