Executive Summary

This report reviews electric-vehicle adoption in India using published vehicle-registration statistics and international electric-car sales indicators. It includes eight visualizations across multiple chart types and an interactive state comparison. The sources show growth in India’s electric-car market between 2024 and 2025, substantial variation in state registration totals, and a strong concentration in electric two-wheelers in the selected PM E-DRIVE dashboard snapshot.

Important interpretation note: The sources measure different things. State registrations are a VAHAN-based FY 2023–24 top-10 snapshot; car sales and sales share are calendar-year estimates for 2024–2025; PM E-DRIVE segment figures are scheme-associated registrations, not total EV registrations across India. Do not combine these series as if they were one consistent dataset.

Research Questions

Data Sources and Method

The 2024 India values are approximate because the IEA describes sales as “nearly 100,000” and the share as “approaching 2%.” The 2025 IEA figures are 165,000 electric-car sales and nearly 4% of new car sales. State figures are the top 10 published values, not a complete state-level extract.

Visualizations

Figure 1. Electric car sales in India, 2024–2025

ggplot(india_sales, aes(x = year, y = electric_car_sales_approx)) +
  geom_line(linewidth = 1.2, color = "#2878B5") +
  geom_point(size = 3, color = "#2878B5") +
  geom_text(aes(label = comma(electric_car_sales_approx)), vjust = 1.6, size = 4) +
  scale_x_continuous(breaks = c(2024, 2025)) +
  scale_y_continuous(labels = label_number(scale_cut = cut_short_scale()),
                     expand = expansion(mult = c(0.08, 0.22))) +
  labs(title = "Electric car sales in India increased from about 100,000 to 165,000",
       x = "Calendar year", y = "Electric car sales (approximate vehicles)",
       caption = "Source: IEA, Global EV Outlook 2026. 2024 figure is approximate.") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 12)

Figure 2. Electric-car share of new car sales in India, 2024–2025

ggplot(india_sales, aes(x = year, y = electric_car_sales_share_percent_approx)) +
  geom_line(linewidth = 1.2, color = "#238B45") +
  geom_point(size = 3, color = "#238B45") +
  geom_text(aes(label = paste0(electric_car_sales_share_percent_approx, "%")), vjust = -0.9, size = 4) +
  scale_x_continuous(breaks = c(2024, 2025)) +
  scale_y_continuous(limits = c(0, 5), breaks = 0:5, labels = function(x) paste0(x, "%")) +
  labs(title = "Electric cars approached 4% of new car sales in India in 2025",
       x = "Calendar year", y = "Share of new car sales (%)",
       caption = "Source: IEA, Global EV Outlook 2026. Values are approximate.") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 12)

Figure 3. Top 10 states by EV registrations, FY 2023–24

state_ranked <- state_ev |> arrange(registrations)
ggplot(state_ranked, aes(x = registrations, y = fct_reorder(state, registrations))) +
  geom_col(fill = "#2878B5") +
  geom_text(aes(label = comma(registrations)), hjust = -0.12, size = 3.2) +
  scale_x_continuous(labels = comma, expand = expansion(mult = c(0, .18))) +
  labs(title = "Uttar Pradesh led the top 10 states in EV registrations in FY 2023–24",
       x = "EV registrations (vehicles)", y = "State / UT",
       caption = "Source: BEE India Energy Scenario Report 2024, citing VAHAN. Top 10 only.") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 11)

Figure 4. Contribution of states to registrations within the top-10 group

state_ev |>
  mutate(share = registrations / sum(registrations),
         label = if_else(share >= 0.06, percent(share, accuracy = 0.1), "")) |>
  ggplot(aes(x = 2, y = registrations, fill = state)) +
  geom_col(width = 1, color = "white") +
  geom_text(aes(label = label), position = position_stack(vjust = 0.5),
            color = "white", fontface = "bold", size = 3.5) +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(.5, 2.5) +
  labs(title = "Contribution of states to registrations within the top-10 group",
       fill = "State / UT",
       caption = "Percentages are calculated only within the ten states shown; slices below 6% are unlabeled to avoid clutter.") +
  theme_void(base_size = 11) +
  theme(legend.position = "right")

pareto <- state_ev |>
  arrange(desc(registrations)) |>
  mutate(rank = row_number(),
         cumulative_share = cumsum(registrations) / sum(registrations) * 100)
ggplot(pareto, aes(x = reorder(state, -registrations))) +
  geom_col(aes(y = registrations), fill = "#2878B5") +
  geom_line(aes(y = cumulative_share * max(registrations) / 100, group = 1),
            color = "#D95F02", linewidth = 1.1) +
  geom_point(aes(y = cumulative_share * max(registrations) / 100), color = "#D95F02", size = 2) +
  scale_y_continuous(labels = comma,
    name = "EV registrations (vehicles)",
    sec.axis = sec_axis(~ . / max(pareto$registrations) * 100,
                        name = "Cumulative share of top-10 registrations (%)")) +
  labs(title = "Ranked state registrations and cumulative contribution",
       x = "State / UT (ranked)",
       caption = "Cumulative share is calculated within the selected top-10 group.") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 10) +
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, hjust = 1))

Figure 6. EV registrations by segment in the PM E-DRIVE snapshot

ggplot(segments, aes(x = registrations_total, y = fct_reorder(segment, registrations_total))) +
  geom_col(fill = "#238B45") +
  geom_text(aes(label = comma(registrations_total)), hjust = -0.1, size = 3.5) +
  scale_x_log10(labels = label_number(), expand = expansion(mult = c(0.05, .22))) +
  labs(title = "The PM E-DRIVE dashboard snapshot is dominated by electric two-wheelers",
       x = "Reported registrations, including temporary registrations (log scale)",
       y = "Vehicle segment",
       caption = "Scheme-associated registrations only; not total EV registrations in India.") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 11)

Figure 7. Electric share of new car sales across selected markets, 2025

country_ranked <- country_share |> arrange(share_percent)
ggplot(country_ranked, aes(x = share_percent, y = fct_reorder(country_or_region, share_percent))) +
  geom_col(fill = "#6A51A3") +
  geom_text(aes(label = paste0(share_percent, "%")), hjust = -0.15, size = 3.2) +
  scale_x_continuous(limits = c(0, 110), breaks = seq(0, 100, 20),
                     labels = function(x) paste0(x, "%")) +
  labs(title = "India's 4% share was below the 25% global average in 2025",
       x = "Share of new car sales that were electric (%)", y = "Country / region",
       caption = "Source: IEA, Global EV Outlook 2026, via Our World in Data.") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 11)

Figure 8. Interactive comparison of top-10 state EV registrations

Hover over bars to see the state and registration count.

state_ev |>
  arrange(registrations) |>
  plot_ly(x = ~registrations, y = ~state, type = "bar", orientation = "h",
          text = ~comma(registrations), hovertemplate = "%{y}<br>Registrations: %{x:,}<extra></extra>") |>
  layout(title = "Explore EV registrations across the top 10 states (FY 2023–24)",
         xaxis = list(title = "EV registrations (vehicles)"),
         yaxis = list(title = "State / UT"),
         margin = list(l = 150))

Key Findings

  1. Electric-car sales accelerated: IEA reporting indicates sales rose from nearly 100,000 in 2024 to 165,000 in 2025, with sales share approaching 4% in 2025.
  2. State totals are concentrated: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka led the published FY 2023–24 top-10 registration list.
  3. Vehicle segment matters: In the selected PM E-DRIVE snapshot, e-2W registrations greatly exceed the reported e-3W and e-truck categories.
  4. India remains below the global car-sales benchmark: India’s 2025 electric-car sales share was around 4%, compared with 25% globally.

Limitations

Conclusion

The available evidence points to a growing electric-car market in India and significant geographic and segment-level variation in EV adoption. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka were the leading states in the cited FY 2023–24 top-10 registration list, while the PM E-DRIVE snapshot is dominated by electric two-wheelers. India’s electric-car sales share nevertheless remained below the global average in 2025. A future extension should use a complete state-by-year VAHAN extract and consistently defined vehicle categories to examine state-level adoption rates and longer-term changes.

References

  1. International Energy Agency (2026). Global EV Outlook 2026: Trends in electric cars.
  2. Our World in Data. Share of new cars sold that are electric, 2010 to 2025.
  3. Bureau of Energy Efficiency. India Energy Scenario Report 2024.
  4. Ministry of Heavy Industries. PM E-DRIVE Sales Dashboard.
  5. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. VAHAN Public Dashboard.

Note: This report presents a descriptive analysis of electric vehicle adoption using publicly available data. Findings should be interpreted in the context of the data sources, reporting periods, and limitations discussed in the report.