India continues to be world's largest market for electric three-wheelers for second year in a row: IEA

19 May 2025 Evaluate

The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its Global EV Outlook 2025, has said that India continues to be the world's largest market for electric three-wheelers for a second year in a row as sales rose nearly 20 per cent to reach about 7 lakh vehicles in 2024. It said India continues to drive most growth in the global electric three-wheeler market. Despite the global three-wheeler (3W) market shrinking 5 per cent from the previous year, electric 3W sales grew more than 10 per cent to surpass 1 million vehicles in 2024. 

According to the report, electric 3W sales represented almost one-quarter of all 3W sales, up from one-fifth in 2023. The market is highly concentrated, with China and India together accounting for more than 90 per cent of electric and conventional 3W sales. Electrification of 3Ws in China has stagnated at less than 15 per cent over the past three years. In 2023, India overtook China to become the world's largest market for electric 3Ws, and it maintained this position in 2024, with sales growing close to 20 per cent year-on-year to reach nearly 7,00,000 vehicles. This translated into a record 57 per cent electric sales share in 2024, 3 per cent up on the previous year. This growing trend looks set to continue thanks to policy support under the new PM E-DRIVE scheme, which allocated budget in 2024 to support the roll-out of more than 3,00,000 electric 3Ws for commercial use - for which the total fleet (electric and ICE) was estimated at more than 10 million vehicles in 2023.

IEA said China, India and Southeast Asia remain the world's largest 2/3W markets, accounting for around 80 per cent of 2024 global sales, with 2/3Ws serving as the primary mode of private passenger transport in these regions. India's increasingly dynamic electric 2W market hosted a total of 220 OEMs in 2024, up from 180 in 2023, although the four market leaders accounted for a combined 80 per cent of the 1.3 million electric 2Ws sold in the country in 2024 (6 per cent of the overall 2W market). While the upfront purchase price of electric 2Ws remains higher on average than that of conventional 2Ws, increasing competition is prompting OEMs to offer more affordable electric models. Policy support is also helping to bridge the affordability gap between electric and ICE 2W models, with the new PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) policy continuing financial support formerly provided under both Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME)-II and Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme measures.


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