South Mumbai sees 85 per cent jump in e-cars in a year

Registration of electric motorcycles, too, rose sharply in FY23; overall growth of all EVs at 74.52 per cent

South Mumbai has seen a significant jump in the registration of electric vehicles, including tourist and luxury cabs, in over a year, shows official data. Compared to financial year 2021-2022 when 687 new electric cars were registered, the registration in fiscal 2022-2023 rose by 85.01 per cent to 1,271, at the MH-01 office in Tardeo, which caters to the island city.

The sale of electric two-wheelers witnessed a growth of 77.43 per cent, with 1,863 registrations in FY23 from 1,050 in the previous fiscal. Of the two-wheelers registered in FY23, 1,853 (up from 1,049 in FY22) were motorcycles and 10 moped (from 1 in FY22). No new e-scooter was registered. There has been a rise in the number of luxury and tourist electric cabs, too, with the registrations rising to 320 in FY23 from just 18 the year before that.

In FY23, south Mumbai saw the registration of 1,853 electric bikes. Representation pic/AFP

The only decline has been seen in the registration of three-wheeler delivery vans for south Mumbai, from 28 in FY22 to 12 in FY23. “But, overall, the registration of e-vehicles of all categories has seen a sharp growth of 74.52 per cent--from 1,998 vehicles in 2021-2022 to 3,487 in 2022-23,” a senior RTO official said.

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“Percentage growth of both two-wheelers and four-wheelers (cars) are nearly the same. The reason could be that the users of two-wheelers are not able to afford the higher capital cost and the car owners can. Incentives need to be given to them, to taxis and Ola/Uber to changeover to EVs, as they are on the road the longest. In buses, BEST should only buy EVs in future, as much as possible,” said A V Shenoy, a senior transport expert with Mumbai Mobility Forum & Mumbai Vikas Samiti.

Mobility expert Rishi Aggarwal, however, said EVs don’t make a difference in relation to congestion. “They are good for air quality, but only electric buses can have a larger impact. But, the underlying fact is that electric mobility is overhyped. Just look at all the mining that is happening for EVs,” he said.

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