Going electric: Is the EV two-wheeler buzz real or imaginary?

When Darpan Bhalla, a first-year undergraduate student at the University of Delhi, was buying a two-wheeler last month, going electric was a straightforward decision for him. “Petrol prices are soaring,” he says. “And electric is the future.” The millennial did consider a scooter by a Japanese company but soon decided against it. “It costs Rs 90,000 and doesn’t have all the features,” he says. Features like a touchscreen dashboard and Bluetooth connectivity, among many others, that his new Ather scooter has.

Bhalla, however, belongs to a minority. Of every 100 two-wheeler buyers in India, just one buys an electric vehicle (EV). But the buzz in the marketplace could have you believe that things are moving much faster on the ground than they actually are.