The outlook for Electric Vehicles (EVs) in India is at a juncture where there is lot of uncertainty around growth potential, continuing inadequacy in charging infrastructure, worries around resale values and range anxiety. Within the PV segment, the EV market encountered an unexpected speed bump with total retail sales of electric 4-wheelers (including cars, SUVs and MPVs) experiencing an YoY decline from June onwards (growth in July was almost nil). After an average monthly sale of 7,950 units in the first eight months of 2024, consumer demand seems to have slowed down with lacklustre sales of 6,098 units in September, the lowest after February 2023 (4,761 units) before sharply rising to 10,534 in a festive October.

Source: Vahan

Interestingly, this mirrored the trend in many global markets, notably Europe where BEVs reported the largest YoY decline since the beginning of 2017. However, I don’t see any direct correlation with these markets, with slowdown in India mostly attributable to localised factors.

Source: Vahan

Tata Motors, which took a smart bet few years back on EVs and saw its sagging fortunes revived thanks to Nexon and then the Punch, is now looking at slower sales of its EV models. In September 2024, sales of its EV models declined by 18% YoY with the lowest monthly sales since February 2023. This was reflected in its market share too, which fell from 68% in September 2023 to 61% before recovering to 65% in October. Declining sales along with some interesting launches from its competitors literally forced Tata Motors to not only launch a higher capacity battery powered Nexon but also slash prices across all its EV models (except the latest launch Curvv). For the Nexon EV, the price fall was as steep as 3 lakhs, which made some recent buyers tearing their hairs out, for obvious reasons! One of the primary reasons why Tata Motors had to resort to such tactics is the recent launch of Windsor, an electric CUV (Crossover Utility Vehicle) a month back which seems to have started on a firm ground.