Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka have the highest number of electric vehicles (EVs) plying on the roads, according to the data tabled in the Lok Sabha earlier this week. As of January 31, 2022, there were a total of 9,66,363 EVs active in India. The Ministry of Heavy Industries had earlier said that the country had a total of 8.7 lakh active EVs as on December 8, 2021. Back then the government had said the total EV count did not include the data from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Lakshadweep and Madhya Pradesh as their numbers were not captured in the centralised Vahan-4 database.

Here’s a look at the states with the highest number of electric vehicles in the country:

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country, accounts for the bulk of the EVs registered in India. As of January 31, 2022, the state had 2,76,217 active EVs. In December, the government had said that UP and Delhi accounted for about 44 percent of the total registered EVs in the country.

Delhi

Delhi has the second-highest number of EVs with 1,32,302 active vehicles. The state has been one of the early movers to extend subsidy to people, boosting adoption of EVs. An earlier report by Ola Mobility Institute had revealed that both UP and Delhi have a higher adoption of electric three-wheelers.

Karnataka

Although Karnataka is a distant third in the EV adoption race, it has 82,045 electric vehicles plying on the roads. The state introduced the Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy in 2017 which aims to convert 50 percent of its public transport fleet into EVs by 2030.

Bihar

According to recent data tabled in the Lok Sabha, Bihar has 64,241 active EVs in the state. To boost EV sales, Bihar has been offering purchase subsidies for the first 100,000 vehicles manufactured in the state, including hybrids.

Maharashtra

As of December 8, 2021, Maharashtra had 53,159 active EVs on the roads. From January 1, the state government has decided to purchase or rent only EVs for state-run departments, urban local bodies and municipal corporations as part of its Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2021 introduced in July 2021.

Rajasthan

Rajasthan had 47,480 active EVs as of December 8, 2021, according to information available with the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

Tamil Nadu, Assam, West Bengal

The three states of Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal recorded 45,368, 43,707 and 43,432 EVs, respectively, till December 8 last year.

Recent data tabled in the Lok Sabha suggests that Gujarat ranked 12th on the list with 17,593 such vehicles as on January 31, 2022. To boost adoption of EVs, the government has sanctioned over 278 charging stations for the state under Phase-II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India). Further, the Centre will set up 10 charging stations on the Expressway between Ahmedabad and Vadodara and an additional 30 stations have been sanctioned for the Surat-Mumbai expressway, which is under construction.

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(Edited by : Thomas Abraham)