India's Electric Car Registrations Hit a Record in September, Nearly Doubling on the Year

India registered a record number of electric cars in September, roughly double the same month last year, according to figures drawn from the government's Vahan registration database. Electric two-wheelers also surged, with Tata Motors leading cars and TVS leading scooters and motorcycles (Autocar Professional, Autocar India).

The headline numbers for cars

Autocar Professional, citing Vahan data compiled by Nuvama, reports 35,948 electric cars registered in September, up 94 percent from a year earlier and 11 percent above August's 32,433. Electric vehicles made up 8.3 percent of all car registrations, up from 7.6 percent in August. Over April to September, registrations reached 1,91,751, up 89 percent from 1,01,546 a year earlier, and the July to September quarter came to 1,03,138, up 82 percent.

Other compilations give slightly different totals depending on when the Vahan data was downloaded: Autocar India uses 35,995 and EVFY cites a range of 35,866 to 35,948. AutoPunditz reports 35,048, which sits below every other source and may be a transcription error. All agree on a record of about 36,000 and on the brand order. These are retail registrations, not company dispatches.

Who sold the most

Brand	September EV registrations (Autocar Professional)	Share
Tata Motors	14,722	41%
Mahindra	7,741	21.5%
JSW MG Motor	5,226	14.5%
VinFast	2,961	8.2%
Kia	1,256	3.5%

Other outlets' brand figures differ by a few dozen units, again because of download timing: Autocar India gives Tata 14,769 (up 101 percent) and Mahindra 7,779 (up 96 percent), and AutoPunditz lists Maruti Suzuki at 1,104, BYD at 836, Hyundai at 792, Toyota at 218 and Citroen at 55. Autocar India notes that Kia overtook Maruti Suzuki for fifth place, and that VinFast posted its best month since entering India. JSW MG grew only about 9 percent and its share fell.

VinFast's position, ahead of Kia and several older brands, is notable for a company that only recently began selling in India, and shows how the market has widened beyond Tata. Because these are registrations, they can differ from the company sales numbers reported for Mahindra earlier this month.

Two-wheelers

Brand	September e2W registrations	Share
TVS	53,989	26.5%
Bajaj	48,383	23.8%
Ather	30,477	15%
Hero	24,305	11.9%
Ola	13,449	6.6%
Total	2,03,411 (up 85%)	11.4% of all two-wheelers

Autocar Professional says two-wheeler registrations rose 12 percent from August's 1,82,078, and passed 1.1 million (11,08,606) in the first half of the financial year, up 73 percent. Over the six months, TVS held 26.1 percent, up from 22.9 percent, and Bajaj 22.8 percent, up from 18.7 percent, while Ola's share fell to 7.7 percent from 17.4 percent, the sharpest reordering in the segment. Across all vehicle types, India registered about 3.33 lakh EVs in September (Finology Ticker).

Reading the numbers

Two things stand out. The growth in cars is not a one-month spike: registrations rose in each of the last three quarters, and the half-year total is up close to 90 percent. And EVs are still below one in ten new cars, so the market remains small even as it doubles. The reports do not attribute the surge to any single cause, and the festive season could lift October further, though that is an expectation.

What to watch next

Watch October's numbers, which include the first festive weeks, company dispatch figures for comparison, new models from Mahindra and Tata, and whether VinFast and BYD hold their new positions. In two-wheelers, watch Ola and whether Bajaj overtakes TVS.

Related on Gadgets365

• Mahindra crosses 1 lakh electric Origin SUV billings
• Gasoline-only cars fall below half of global new-car sales
• NIO delivers 37,408 vehicles in September