Telangana: Electric vehicle sales in top gear, record 23% rise in 2020 than last year

HYDERABAD: In what can be seen as a move towards reducing the carbon footprint, sales of electric vehicles have shot up by 23% in the first eight months of 2020 compared to the same period in the previous year.
According to data available with the regional transport authority (RTA), over 11,000 electric and battery-operated vehicles are plying in Telangana as on August 6. This includes over 6,000 electric cars and 4,000 electric two-wheelers. The corresponding number of electric vehicles plying in the state in July 2019 was 9,303 which included 5,573 electric cars, 3,690 electric two-wheelers and 40 RTC passenger vehicles. Industry experts attribute the rise in purchase of e-vehicles to factors such as reduction in goods and services tax (GST) as well as better affordability due to low costs of ownership.