India on e-wheels: How electricity began to enter country’s road transport energy mix
Electricity's share of India's road transport energy rose 110-fold, from 0.3 petajoules in 2016-17 to about 33 petajoules in 2025-26, but still remains under 1% of total road transport energy
E-rickshaws, financed informally and using inexpensive imported lead-acid battery packs, dominated early electric vehicle (EV) uptake, comprising 62-95% of EV registrations between 2016-17 and 2020-21 and still accounting for 48% of national transport electricity consumption in 2025-26
A June 2021 revision to the FAME-II scheme tripled two-wheeler subsidies, coinciding with petrol prices crossing Rs 100/litre and new state EV policies in Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra, pushing two-wheeler EV penetration from 0.3% of new registrations (2020-21) to 6.6% (2025-26)
Delhi and Maharashtra show a distinct pattern where electric buses form 31% and 35% of transport electricity use respectively, against a 12% national average, reflecting concentrated FAME-II and PM-eBus Sewa procurement
Delhi cut diesel vehicle registrations by 72% between 2012-13 and 2025-26, aided by a 1998 Supreme Court order mandating conversion of public transport to CNG, later reinforced by Bharat Stage VI norms and vehicle-age bans
FAME India Scheme (Phase I and Phase II)
The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) scheme is the Union government's principal demand-incentive mechanism for electric mobility, administered by the Ministry of Heavy Industries. FAME-I ran from 2015; FAME-II was approved for three years from 1 April 2019 (extended through March 2024) with a significantly larger outlay, before incentives shifted to the PM E-DRIVE scheme.
Key Details
- FAME-II outlay: Rs 10,000 crore, later revised to Rs 11,500 crore
- About 86% of FAME-II funds were earmarked for Demand Incentives, targeting 10 lakh e-two-wheelers, 5 lakh e-three-wheelers, 55,000 e-four-wheelers (including strong hybrids) and 7,000 e-buses
- June 2021 revision tripled the per-kWh subsidy cap for two-wheelers, a key inflection point cited in the current data
- Complements the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery manufacturing and the PLI for Auto and Auto Components
The 2021 FAME-II subsidy revision is the direct policy trigger behind the jump in two-wheeler EV penetration from 0.3% to 6.6%, illustrating how demand-side subsidies (versus e-rickshaws' organic, unsubsidised informal financing) shape EV segment growth differently.
Distinguishing Powertrain and Fuel Categories in Indian Road Transport
UPSC frequently tests precise distinctions between alternative powertrains and fuels used in decarbonising transport: Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs, pure electric), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs, combine IC engine and battery without external charging), Plug-in Hybrids (PHEVs, externally chargeable), and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles, which use a different fuel infrastructure model entirely.
Key Details
- CNG's diffusion followed a "minimum work programme" city-gas-distribution licensing model with performance bonds (under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, PNGRB), unlike EV charging which remains subsidy-based without binding buildout mandates
- The Gujarat-Delhi natural gas corridor shows CNG gaining 5.3-15 percentage points of transport energy share, a geographic diffusion pattern electricity has not replicated
- India's transport sector accounts for a significant share of energy-related CO2 emissions, making modal electrification central to India's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and net-zero-by-2070 target announced at COP26 (2021)
The article's core policy finding — that EV charging infrastructure lacks the binding, licensed buildout mandates that made CNG's geographic spread possible — is a testable comparison of two alternative-fuel transition models within the same country.
National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) and PM-eBus Sewa
NEMMP 2020 was India's first comprehensive framework for electric mobility, providing the policy basis from which FAME schemes were later carved out. PM-eBus Sewa (2023) is a more recent scheme specifically targeting electric bus deployment in million-plus-population cities, explaining Delhi and Maharashtra's disproportionately high bus-electrification share.
Key Details
- PM-eBus Sewa: approved 2023, targets deployment of 10,000 e-buses across cities on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, with Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs as nodal ministry
- Delhi's transport electrification is also shaped by a 1998 Supreme Court directive (in the M.C. Mehta vehicular pollution litigation) mandating CNG conversion of public transport, later layered with BS-VI emission norms and vehicle-age deregistration rules (10-year diesel, 15-year petrol)
The unusually high bus-electricity share in Delhi (31%) and Maharashtra (35%) versus the 12% national average demonstrates how city-specific legal and regulatory history (Supreme Court orders, state EV policies) — not just central subsidies — shapes the pace and pattern of transport electrification.
- Electricity's share of road transport energy: 0.3 PJ (2016-17) to 33 PJ (2025-26) — a 110-fold rise, still under 1% of total transport energy
- E-rickshaw share of national transport electricity consumption (2025-26): 48%
- Two-wheeler EV penetration: 0.3% (2020-21) to 6.6% (2025-26) of new registrations
- FAME-II outlay: Rs 10,000 crore (revised to Rs 11,500 crore); implemented 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2024
- Delhi's electricity share of transport energy: 2.4% (highest nationally); Maharashtra: 0.3%
- Delhi's diesel vehicle registration decline: 72% (2012-13 to 2025-26); absolute decline of 29.62 PJ, the largest nationally
- Uttar Pradesh three-wheeler EV share: rose from 6.1% (2022-23) to 74.8% (2025-26), as CNG share fell from 82.3% to 23.9%