World EV Day highlights India’s electric mobility outlook, focusing on charging infrastructure, battery technology, localisation and reliability for passenger vehicles, electric trucks, buses and mini trucks.
Key points
- Where India's EV Market Stands Today
- Why Charging Infrastructure Is Now The Real Bottleneck
- What This Means For Electric Trucks And Electric Buses
- Localisation And Battery Technology Push
- Frequently Asked Questions on India's EV Market Outlook
As India's EV market keeps growing, automakers and component makers used World EV Day to share where they think the next phase of growth will come from. The common thread across nearly every executive's comment was this: the conversation has moved past simply getting people to buy EVs and is now about making sure those vehicles — including electric mini trucks and buses — stay reliable, charged and on the road.
Where India's EV Market Stands Today
Table of Contents
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1. Where India's EV Market Stands Today |
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2. Why Charging Infrastructure Is Now The Real Bottleneck |
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3. What This Means For Electric Trucks And Electric Buses |
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4. Localisation And Battery Technology Push |
According to Ravi Chawla, MD & CEO of Gulf Oil Lubricants India, the shift in the last five years has been massive. EV penetration in India stood at just 0.7% of total vehicle sales back in 2020. Today, the market has crossed 25 lakh registrations in FY2025-26, with penetration in most segments nearing 5% and more than 52,000 public charging stations already operational across the country.
Chawla noted that India will need at least 1.32 million charging stations by 2030 to keep pace with demand, against a charging infrastructure market currently estimated at USD 2 billion.
Why Charging Infrastructure Is Now The Real Bottleneck
Several executives pointed to the same shift — range anxiety is no longer the main concern it used to be. Anshuman Divyanshu, CEO of the EVSE Business at Exicom Tele-Systems, put it simply: EV batteries have largely caught up with daily driving needs, so what decides adoption now is whether charging fits naturally into a person's routine — at home, at work and along the routes they already drive.
Reshu Madan, President and SBU Head at Havells India, echoed this, saying the industry's focus has moved from adoption to building trust in the ecosystem. Through its Havells MotrON brand, the company is building AC and DC fast-charging solutions aimed at homes, workplaces, fleets and highways.
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What This Means For Electric Trucks And Electric Buses
This is where the conversation gets most relevant for fleet operators. Samrath S Kochar, Founder and CEO of Trontek Electronics, was direct about it — for commercial EVs specifically, uptime and battery performance don't just affect convenience, they directly impact livelihoods and business viability. His view was that India's opportunity lies in building an integrated EV ecosystem backed by local manufacturing and strong after-sales support, which matters even more for electric trucks and electric buses running daily commercial routes than it does for private cars.
Muthu Subramanian, MD & General Manager at Yuma Energy, made a similar point about high-utilisation vehicles, including two- and three-wheelers used commercially. He said the focus needs to shift from simply adding more EVs to the road, to keeping them moving — and that battery swapping can help here by letting operators access a charged battery in minutes instead of waiting through a full charging cycle. The same logic increasingly applies to commercial fleets running electric mini trucks on tight delivery schedules, where every hour of downtime has a direct cost.
Localisation And Battery Technology Push
On the manufacturing side, several executives spoke about building India's own battery and component ecosystem rather than depending on imports. Anurag Choudhary, CMD and CEO of Himadri Speciality Chemical, said the company has been developing LFP cathode material and is now working on silicon-carbon anode technology, which he described as key to faster charging and longer range for the next generation of EVs.
Ravi Mehra, MD of Uno Minda and Rohit Saboo, CEO of NBC Bearings, both stressed that strengthening India's domestic supply chain — through R&D, localisation and advanced engineering — will be central to scaling EV adoption further, across passenger vehicles as well as commercial ones like electric trucks and buses.
Aakash Minda, Executive Director at Spark Minda, summed up the broader shift well, noting that the next phase of EV adoption will depend on affordability, reliability and continued investment in technology and partnerships, rather than just getting more vehicles registered on paper.
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Frequently Asked Questions on India's EV Market Outlook
Q1. How many EV charging stations does India currently have?
Ans. According to Gulf Oil Lubricants India, over 52,000 public charging stations are currently operational across India, with at least 1.32 million stations expected to be needed by 2030.
Q2. Why is charging infrastructure more important for electric trucks and electric buses than range?
Ans. Industry executives note that for commercial EVs, uptime and reliable access to charging directly affect business viability, since downtime for electric trucks and buses translates into lost income for fleet operators.
Q3. What is battery swapping and how does it help electric mini trucks?
Ans. Battery swapping lets operators exchange a depleted battery for a fully charged one in minutes, rather than waiting through a full charging cycle, which is particularly useful for high-utilisation electric mini trucks and delivery vehicles.
Q4. What is India's current EV penetration rate?
Ans. India's EV market has crossed 25 lakh registrations in FY2025-26, with penetration in most vehicle segments now close to 5%, up from just 0.7% in 2020.