An average of 300 electric vehicles (EVs) are being registered daily across Maharashtra over the past four months. This is an all-time high as compared to the average 141 EVs which were registered daily in 2021-22, revealed latest transport statistics. The number of e-cars and SUVs in the state has also crossed the 10,000 mark.
The statistics showed that 35,259 e-vehicles were registered in just four months of 2022-23, between April 1 and July 25, against 51,423 in the entire financial year of 2021-22.
The presence of EVs is not just restricted to low-end vehicles. Even high-end luxury cars such as Mercedes-Benz India, which saw huge sales of 1,273 vehicles of petrol and diesel variants in 2021-22, plans to launch an electric car in August.
Mohan Mariwala, managing director of Auto Hangar India Pvt Ltd, said: “With a lot of buyers for the luxury car segment in 2021, we are now receiving bookings for the electric variant which will witness registrations towards the end of this year.”
The new electric cars will have a good range of over 300km which will ensure that a single charge can last an entire day for city trips, he said, adding there were e-charging stations now at pumps on the Expressway and in cities such as Mumbai and Pune which is encouraging more people to switch to e-vehicles.
The statistics also showed a good growth in electric two-wheelers whose population has gone over 98,000 in the state. Maharashtra too ranked second in the country after UP with maximum electric vehicles-11.2% of the total EVs sold (over 4.5 lakh vehicles) in the country during the previous financial year.
While the EV sector has gained traction, what has worried car dealers is the waiting time for some of the new vehicles-be it petrol, diesel or electric-and this is due to the shortage of semiconductors.
The automotive chip shortage which began during Covid-19 continues to affect car dealers across all showrooms in Mumbai.
“Due to the semiconductor issue, the order pipeline continues to get wider. It has affected every manufacturer and impacted all car dealers in Mumbai, with long waiting periods which could be as high as six to nine months,” a car dealer added.
