CHENNAI: The electric vehicle sales crossed the one million-unit mark in FY22-23. According to the latest data from the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), overall the EV industry registered sales of 1,152,021 units in FY 2023.
This is up 58 per cent from 726,861 units sold in FY21-22. The biggest slice of the EV pie at 62 per cent was two-wheelers with the industry selling 726,976 high-speed e-two wheelers though adoption fell month-on-month “ending with an annual shortfall of more than 25 per cent over the minimum target set by the NitiAayog,” said a statement by the SMEV.
It has voiced its concern over the suspension of FAME-II subsidies to companies that do not meet localisation eligibility arguing that the decision has impacted the sale of EVs. The momentum in electric twowheeler adoption “fell after the festive season not because of consumer demand but the sudden withholding of more than the Rs 1,200 crore subsidy already passed on by the majority of OEMs to the customers on the pretext of delay in the localisation,” said the SMEV statement.”Another Rs 400 crore of the OEMs operating in the premium end also got stuck due to the allegation of under invoicing to bypass the FAME norms,” it added.