EV Car Sales In India Doubled In 2024; Tata Motors Leads The Market

The adoption of electric vehicles (EV) has taken a huge leap in the country. In 2024, close to 2 Mn EVs were registered across segments — two wheeler (E2W), three wheeler (E3W) and four wheeler (E4W) — marking an almost 29% increase from the previous year.

According to Inc42’s India’s Electric Vehicle Startup Landscape Report, 2025, in the last five years, the number of registered EVs across segments has increased 10-fold. When did the pace pick up?

EV adoption saw a steep rise after 2022. That year, sales of EVs in India more than doubled to 1.1 Mn from 300K in 2021. The following year, the adoption of EV continued to soar with almost 50% year-on-year (YoY) growth in 2023, on the back of subsidies for early adopters.

This is how the number of annual EV registrations shot up to 1.9 Mn in 2024 from 164K in 2019.

Two-wheelers took the early lead among EVs, but electric cars are fast catching up, with a host of new models expected to hit the market in 2025. But before we look at the year ahead, let’s see how each category performed in 2024.

India’s Electric Car Rally Gets Going

Among the three segments, E4W or electric cars saw the highest growth in adoption in 2024. Between 2018 and 2023, there were about 1.13 Lakh registered 4-wheeler EVs in the country. Interestingly, last year alone, India added 1.47 Lakh in this segment, outpacing the total of the past six years.

On a YoY basis, the number of electric four-wheelers registered more than doubled from 73K in 2023.

Automobile conglomerate Tata Motors carried the torch for the Indian electric car market. According to data from Vahan, around 55K units manufactured by Tata Motors were registered in 2024. Next in line was Toyota with close to 48K units registered in the national vehicle registry. China-based MG Motor was third on the list with 21K units sold.

But 2024 was also the year for new launches, which signals a broad optimism in the automobile industry for electric cards. Tata came up with its launch of Punch EV and Curvv while Mahindra also unveiled three four wheelers EVs including Mahindra XEV 9e, BE6e and the updated XUV 400.

MG Motors came up with its launch of EV9 and Chinese EV maker BYD also penetrated the Indian market with its BYD Seal.

With these flurry of new launches, Indian consumers have a plethora of options and the market has also seen competitive pricing making EVs more affordable for people.

The coming year is expected to get more spicy for this sector as global EV giant Tesla is set to enter the world’s third largest automotive market. To compete with the local players, it has planned to launch its tailored made model which would cost around INR 25 Lakh, competing directly with the existing models in the market.

Interestingly, Vietnamese EV maker VinFast is also set to launch its EVs in India, and has set up a factory in Tamil Nadu with an initial investment of $500 M.

Two-Wheeler EVs Rule The Market

Even though electric four-wheelers saw the highest growth in the number of registrations last year, the two-wheeler segment was still king. A whopping 60% of all EVs registered in 2024 were two-wheelers, with a total of 11.4 Lakh fresh units entering the vehicle registry in the year.

On a YoY basis, the number of electric two-wheelers registered grew 33% from 8.6 Lakh in 2023.

Despite umpteen customer complaints and cutbacks, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric stayed on top of the charts with more than 4 lakh units registered in Vahan. Close on Ola’s heels was  legacy brand TVS, taking the second spot with more than 2 Lakh units registered, while IPO-bound Ather Energy was in third place with 1.92 Lakh units.

With Ola set to launch its motorcycles this year, and legacy players like Honda set to enter the E2W space this year, the segment is set to get more competitive. Not to mention the rise in registration for newer EV players such as River, PureEV, Oben and others, which could revitalise the competitive intensity even across price segments.

Three-Wheeler Market Shows Growth Shoots

Given the long tail of electric three-wheeler makers in India, this segment is easily the most competitive among all three EV categories. Adoption in the three-wheeler segment — passenger and commercial rickshaws — increased by a marginal 12.8% on a YoY basis in 2024 with 6.59 Lakh units sold.

On a YoY basis, the number of electric three-wheelers registered grew 67% from 5.84 Lakh in 2023.

Though homegrown automotive giant Mahindra emerged as the market leader in this space last year with more than 66K units registered, other rivals such as Bajaj Auto and Piaggio were not far behind — with 41,906 and 21,775 units registered in Vahan respectively.

With legacy players taking the lead in this segment, new-age startups like Euler are far behind with just 3,523 sold in 2024. However, it must be noted that given the commercial nature of electric three-wheeler registrations, a lot of delivery companies have also jumped on to the bandwagon.

Looking Ahead At EV Adoption In India

Even though EV sales slowed down in the year compared to the growth rate of 2023, one could say that the EV market matured in 2024, especially when it comes to the electric cars and four-wheeler segment.

Government support and subsidies were shown to be key factors in catalysing EV sales in 2023, and a reduction in subsidies directly resulted in some slowdown last year. However, more and more companies are launching improved products, which has added to the consumer confidence in EVs.

In October 2024, the PM E-DRIVE scheme was introduced by the government with a total outlay of INR 10,900 Cr, largely focussing on EV infrastructure creation and widening the ecosystem to cover more vehicles.

“The proliferation of EV startups in India has created a crowded market, making it challenging for new entrants to differentiate themselves and attract investments. High production costs, supply chain disruptions, and intense competition have led investors to exercise caution as profitability looks like a distant future,” Brijesh Damodaran, cofounder and chief investment officer at Auxano Capital, told Inc42 earlier.

With funding in EV startups decelerating nearly 31% to $624 Mn in 2024, government support is increasingly being seen as a key anchor for the industry particularly in driving adoption of EVs for official use .

[Edited By Nikhil Subramaniam]