The share of EVs in new car sales jumped to 5.1% last month from 3.5% in February, data collated by Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada) from the government’s Vahan portal showed.
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“Customers are thinking fuel availability and prices can become an issue,” Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles managing director Shailesh Chandra said, attributing 20-30% of incremental demand for electric cars at the company last month to customer concerns over the West Asia crisis.
TaMo sees 20–30% incremental demand; JSW MG Motor logs 26% jump in enquiries
Anurag Mehrotra, managing director of JSW MG Motor India, concurred. “Over the last couple of months, we have seen more customers entering showrooms with electric vehicles as their first consideration, and many fence-sitters are now moving decisively towards electrified products as they look for predictable running costs and insulation from fuel price fluctuations,” Mehrotra said.
JSW MG recorded a 26% surge in customer interest in March versus the January-February average.While India has not yet raised fuel prices, customers are apprehensive of a hike after the ongoing state elections, spurring a sharp rise in enquiries and sales of electric vehicles, industry executives said.
Electric car registrations in the local market rose 68% year-on-year to 22,490 units in March, Vahan data showed.
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The shift in consumer preferences is coming at a time when the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran have sent oil and gas prices soaring in global markets. The war has severely disrupted oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.
There have also been reports of serious damage to the energy infrastructure in West Asian nations. Industry experts said it may take years for energy supplies to fully come back online. For India, a country that imports the bulk of its crude, the impact could be substantial.
“Choosing an electric vehicle is increasingly seen by customers as a responsible and economically sensible decision,” said Mehrotra who sees the structural shift as durable and not merely reactive.
JSW MG Motor is planning to strengthen its portfolio of new energy vehicles, expand capacity, push localisation and development of charging ecosystem to tap into the latent potential, Mehrotra said.
Globally, demand for electric vehicles is also showing an uptick in markets such as Europe and the US due to the West Asia conflict. Shailesh Chandra, who also heads Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, noted that people in these markets are already reeling from the impact of high gasoline prices.
