20% cars sold in metros run on alternate fuels; sales doubled in last 3 yrs

Given the growing acceptance of hybrid and electric vehicles, the combined share of diesel and petrol vehicles has taken a hit and gone down by 8.27% and 4.64% in urban and rural markets, respectively

Twenty per cent of the total cars sold in the top metro cities in the country run on electricity, are hybrid, or use CNG as fuel, The Economic Times (ET) has reported. The growing acceptance of alternative fuel vehicles has resulted in clean-energy vehicle sales doubling in the last three years. Notably, high petrol and diesel prices appear to have played a pivotal role in inducing this shift.

As consumer awareness about environmental challenges improves and supporting infrastructure for cleaner fuels becomes more readily available, the sales of vehicles running on alternative fuels are expected to rise even faster. Taking note of the trend, car manufacturers are preparing their facilities to serve the changing customer preferences.

The ET report said that the market share of alternative powertrains, or vehicles with some type of arrangement for alternative energy sources, increased to reach 12.95 per cent in urban centres this year. This was only 4.68 per cent in 2020. Rural areas have also seen a shift on similar lines where the market share for vehicles operating on alternate powertrains rose to 8.39 per cent from 3.75 per cent during the same period, the ET report said, citing data from Jato Dynamics.

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Sales of diesel and petrol vehicles

Given the growing acceptance of hybrid and electric vehicles, the combined share of diesel and petrol vehicles has taken a hit and has gone down by 8.27 per cent and 4.64 per cent in urban and rural markets, respectively.

Factors driving the shift to greener mobility

Government push, which has resulted in car manufacturers launching more electric-powered vehicles, along with the expansion of CNG dispensing stations and growing charging infrastructure for EVs, are driving the shift away from conventional fossil fuels, the ET report said, citing industry experts.

Sharing his thoughts on the subject, Managing Director of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, Shailesh Chandra, told ET, "Diesel in any case is declining. For us, we are very clear that we have defined our net zero in 2040, which means a very fast acceleration of EVs." Accordingly, Tata Motors is working towards doubling its EV portfolio and offering six electric vehicles in the next few months.
 

While the share of diesel vehicles has plummeted to 15 per cent from the peak of 88 per cent, the share of electric vehicle sales for Tata has risen to 14-15 per cent. The EV share is likely to grow further to 25 per cent by 2027 and 50 per cent by the end of the decade, Chandra said.