New electric vehicle (EV) registrations in India reached over one million in December 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway. This represents approximately 300% year-on-year growth. Helped in no small part by the purchase incentives of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric vehicles (FAME) scheme, the country is undergoing a significant shift to electrification. However, another economic trend is poised to accelerate the change even further: e-commerce.
Online market data platform Statista forecasts exponential growth in India’s e-commerce sector until the end of the decade—from US$74.8bn in 2022 to US$350bn in 2030 (+368%). Increased online shopping necessitates a concurrent rise in last-mile vehicle logistics. However, with Mumbai and Bengaluru ranked in TomTom’s top ten most congested cities in the world, this boom is unlikely to be served by cars and trucks.