Electric Car and Truck Sales in India Almost Doubled in 2025

Demand got a boost from new electric models of compact sports utility vehicles.

Today, I look at the steady momentum in EV adoption across the country, and my colleague Satviki Sanjay looks at how Bata India CEO Gunjan Shah aims to put the shine back on the company.

EV Acceleration

2025 marks a turning point of sorts for India’s electric vehicle industry. Sales of battery-operated cars and small trucks doubled, lifting overall EV sales growth 17% year-on-year, according to a BloombergNEF report. In the passenger car segment, EV share of total sales is 4.6%, a whisker away from the 5% tipping point for mainstream adoption.

The outlook for 2026 is buoyant as automakers expand product portfolios, decarbonization goals remain out of reach, and government incentive policies stay supportive, said Komal Kareer, senior associate and author of the report.

Here are some of my key takeaways from the BloombergNEF report:

1. Annual electric car sales nearly doubled to about 210,000 units. MG Motor’s Windsor became India’s best-selling passenger EV, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra’s electric SUV XEV 9E, launched last year. That said, Tata Motors still leads the category with a 38% share of EV car sales.

Demand got a boost from new electric models of compact sports utility vehicles, a high-selling category, though the popular hatchback segment offers few options, said Kareer. A continuing decline in battery prices and tightening of fuel efficiency and pollution norms will support wider adoption of electric cars, she said.

Notably, among other low-emission technologies, CNG car sales for the first time exceeded those of diesel. Cars using compressed natural gas grew 24% to nearly 957,000 units. Maruti Suzuki is the leader in this segment with a 70% share. Kareer notes that improved technology and new models have helped expand demand beyond the taxi segment to personal use.

2. In two-wheelers, electric scooters accounted for 6.3% of more than 21.2 million units estimated to have been sold last year. EV adoption in motorcycles has yet to see any progress, with just 16,000 sold last year. TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto are now firmly in the lead, while once top-selling Ola Electric saw annual sales halve to 200,000 units (excluding sales in Telangana). The company has slid to the fourth spot.

3. Three-wheeler sales were driven by EVs, which constituted 61% of total 2025 sales versus 46% in 2020. Bajaj Auto dominates this segment and doubled its EV three-wheeler sales last year to nearly 79,000 vehicles.

Electric two- and three-wheelers continue to dominate volumes although growth rates have somewhat plateaued.

4. Sales of electric commercial vehicles nearly doubled in 2025 to over 11,300 vehicles. Adoption is concentrated in the light commercial vehicle or small truck segment (10,800 vehicles) where demand is driven by logistics service providers. Tata Motors leads the market, selling over 4,500 eLCVs, followed by Mahindra, Euler Motors and Switch Mobility. The large truck segment (HCV) is slowly witnessing a rise in electrification, with participation from two big Chinese truck makers. But use-cases remain limited to port and mining operations, said Kareer.

Annual sales of electric buses jumped by 21% to 4,506 vehicles, driven mostly by central and state procurement. Over 6000 CNG buses were sold last year, marking a 28% rise versus 2024.

5. The progress on local production of battery cells has been slow. India has 3 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of commissioned battery cell manufacturing capacity so far amid commitments from the Adani Group and Reliance Industries, to build over 170 GWh capacity.

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Cover photo:  A charging plug is connected to an electric vehicle (EV) in New Delhi. Photographer T. Narayan/BloombergBloomberg