India's EV transition on right track, but miles to go: Experts

Range anxiety, inadequate charging infrastructure, charger uptime and maintenance gaps, battery degradation worries, evolving safety standards, and high utilisation stress in commercial vehicles remain real challenges for India’s electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem.

- BS REPORTER

Yet industry leaders said strong unit economics, rising penetration, improving technology, and supportive policy momentum give them confidence that electrification will only accelerate from here on.

During a panel discussion titled 'Smoothing the EV Transition', moderated by Business Standard's Deepak Patel, at the Manthan 2026 summit, VinFast India Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tapan Ghosh, Euler Motors Founder and CEO Saurav Kumar, and Bolt.Earth CEO Raghav Bharadwaj made it clear that while execution challenges persist, the direction towards electrification is unmistakable.

Ghosh pointed to the numbers. Over the past six years, EVs in India have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 63 per cent, he said. "I am more hopeful that it is real growth and that it is sustainable," he said, adding that once the industry resolves current hindrances collectively, "we will reach an inflection point, and then it is going to boom".

In cars, penetration has doubled from about 2 per cent two years ago to 4 per cent last calendar year. Monthly volumes have risen from 5,000-6,000 units to around 17,000 units, with annual registrations touching roughly 177,000 units. The shift, he noted, has come quickly, and momentum remains strong.

Kumar said electrification in commercial vehicles is less about sentiment and more about economics. "I think vehicle electrification will happen. The only question is at what pace," he said.