Monthly electric vehicle registrations (all segments) in the country surpassed the one lakh mark for the first time in October, thanks to the strong growth in the two-wheeler segment.

Total EV registrations have risen for the fifth month in a row.

Total EV registrations in October at 114,001 units were up 23 per cent over 92,833 units in September. To put this in a perspective, EV sales in the full year 2020-21 totalled 1,33,000 vehicles.

Compared withregistrations in the same month of 2021, theOctober numbers had soared by 190 per cent, according to data on Vahan Dashboard.

At 75,294 units, electric two-wheelers accounted for 66per centof all EVs sold in October; this is the highest sales ever in the segment. Electric 2W volumes grew about42 per cent month-on-month and about 290 per cent year-on-year.

“Fifteen States have introduced EV policies with consumer-specific incentives since 2020. These coupled with the benefits provided by the FAME II scheme have helped bring down the high upfront cost of EVs, especially two-wheelers. Fleets and commercial entities are increasingly committing todeploy E2Ws,” said MeghnaNair, Research Analyst, CEEW-Centre for Energy Finance.

“EV penetration (share in overall sales) for the two-wheeler industry was at 4.4 per cent in October, down from 5 per cent in September – a reflection of bunch-up of demand during the festival period that is difficult to match for EVs due to supply constraints,” said Kumar Rakesh, Analyst-IT & Auto, BNP Paribas India.

Electric three-wheeler industry volume grew by about 11 per cent month-on-month and the penetration increased to about 55 per cent fromabout 49 per cent in September, he added.