India To Have 123 Million EVs On Road By 2032

India is set for an electric revolution with the possibility of having 123 million electric vehicles (EVs) on its roads by 2032, as per a recent report co-authored by the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) and Customized Energy Solutions (CES). Entitled "India Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Market Overview", the report presents the nation's ambitious vision and infrastructural changes that need to be made to enable this comprehensive shift towards green mobility.

This shift is highly consistent with India's overall climate objectives, such as reaching net-zero emissions by 2070. The government's initiative towards cleaner mobility under its EV30@30 pledge hopes to realize 30% of EV penetration by 2030, giving this predicted growth a strong foundation. The NEV (National Electric Vehicle Targets) scenario, which is the most ambitious path in the report, mirrors this national vision, taking cues from policy structures and objectives from institutions such as NITI Aayog.

The document discloses that India's on-road EV count has already demonstrated impressive momentum, increasing twelve times over a mere 0.35 million in 2019 to 4.4 million in 2024. This impressive growth has been primarily driven by positive government policies like the FAME-II scheme, which provides direct demand incentives for electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers, along with public charging infrastructure subsidies. In 2024, electric two- and three-wheelers accounted for over 93% of India's total EV inventory. Electric four-wheelers accounted for around 6%, however, with electric buses and trucks accounting for less than 1%. The personal electric four-wheeler (E4W) segment, however, is increasingly becoming important, especially in the development of home and private charging systems.

Vinayak Walimbe, Managing Director, Customized Energy Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., noted that the report outlines three scenarios of EV adoption—Worst Case, Business-as-Usual (BAU), and NEV. On the NEV path, India may reach an estimated 123 million in EV stock by 2032, if the nation achieves major penetration targets: 80% for electric two- and three-wheelers, 30% for private electric four-wheelers, 70% for commercial electric cars, and 40% for electric buses. These numbers align with the EV30@30 campaign's strategic objectives and are indicative of India's ambitions to be at the forefront of transport electrification.

As of 2024, India had approximately 220,000 personal electric four-wheelers in use, most of which used Type-2 AC chargers that were fitted in residential settings. There were about 320,000 private Type-2 AC chargers installed, 70% of which were 3.3 kW capacity, 28% 7.4 kW capacity, and the remaining as higher-capacity chargers in the 11–22 kW range. Besides private infrastructure, India had installed about 76,000 public and captive charging points with an aggregate capacity of 1.3 GW. While almost half of these installations were AC-001 chargers, most charging capacity came from high-power CCS2 chargers—indicating increased consumer demand for quicker charging facilities.

In the future, IESA President Debmalya Sen highlighted the extent of infrastructure growth needed to address India's future EV demand. "To sustain the anticipated growth of EVs, India's cumulative number of public and captive EV charging points will need to increase by 12 to 28 times—to 76,000 in 2024 to 0.9 million to 2.1 million in 2032," Sen added. He also added that the charging installation capacity needs to increase even more dramatically, growing 17-fold to 23 GW between the same years.". That growth will be pivotal to meeting the charging needs of not just private cars but also electric trucks and buses, which are slated to be heavy users of high-power DC fast charging.

The report further provides estimated growth by vehicle segment. By 2032, electric four-wheelers might be 4.3 million in the Worst Case scenario, 5.8 million in the BAU case, and 10 million in the NEV scenario. In the same way, electric buses and trucks are projected to increase in numbers to 450,000 (Worst Case), 750,000 (BAU), and up to 1.1 million (NEV). These will be responsible for determining demand for both captive and public charging networks.

Though the journey forward has logistical and infrastructure hurdles, it also offers India a valuable opportunity. With proper policy structure, strong investments, and sustained R&D, the nation is on the brink of emerging as a world leader in electric mobility. The transition under way holds promise not only of cleaner air and lesser reliance on fossil fuels but also of economic progress through local manufacturing, employment generation, and technological advancement.

India's electric future is no longer a dream—it's becoming a reality very quickly.