At 5%, EV share in car sales nearly doubles in yr

NEW DELHI: The start may have been slow, but adoption of electrics has started to pick up in the country, with contribution of green cars to total sales nearly doubling over last one year, though on a lower base.Not only this, at 91,726 units, first six months of fiscal 2025-26 have seen sales of electrics cover nearly 86% of what was sold in the full year of FY25 (around 1.1 lakh units), showing the growth in adoption of EVs. With this, the share of electrics in total passenger vehicle (PV) sales has now moved to around the 5% mark against 2.6% recorded at the end of FY25.Sales of electrics grew by 108% to 91,726 units in first half of FY26 against 44,172 units in the same period of previous year, according to numbers provided by Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).

This strong performance was led by by JSW MG Motor, Tata Motors and others such as BMW and Mahindra & Mahindra. JSW MG's Windsor SUV crossed 50,000 units in just one year of its launch, showing one of the fastest scale-ups for an EV model.Anurag Mehrotra, MD of JSW MG Motor, said the share of EVs to the company's sales is 80% as it witnesses strong traction across segments. "EVs are expected to cross 7% industry market share by this year-end.

Together, EVs and hybrids are likely to hit 30% share in a decade."Shailesh Chandra, MD & CEO of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, said EVs have also played a strong part in the company's healthy performance in festive season. "Our EV portfolio continued its upward trajectory with over 10,000 units retailed in 30-day window from Navratri to Diwali. This is up 37%. Second quarter of this fiscal has seen our EVs grow by 59% y-o-y on a total volume of 25,000 units.

Share of EVs at the end of Q2 stands at 17% to overall sales.

"The demand for green cars has been equally strong when it comes to luxury. BMW and Mercedes have seen strong adoption of electrics, prompting the brands to launch more green cars.Hardeep S Brar, president & CEO of BMW India, said the group recorded highest EV sales in Jan-Sept 2025. "A total of 2,509 electric BMWs and MINIs were delivered, with a growth of 246% y-o-y.

BMW iX1 long wheelbase is the highest-selling electric car, followed by the flagship i7. The share of EVs in total sales further increased to 21%. By 2030, this is expected to increase to 30%," Brar said.Santosh Iyer, MD & CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, said EVs are a key element in the company's decarbonisation roadmap. "Our top-end battery electrics drive our strategy with the locally-produced EQS SUV recording its highest sales ever, accelerating our EV penetration to 8% of total volumes. The company has seen a 10% growth in EV sales in the second quarter of this fiscal."