After the USA and UK, India is among top 3 markets to lead online chatter about Electric Vehicles (EVs), said Interactive Avenues Report

According to an Interactive Avenues Report, India is among the top 3 countries globally after the USA and UK, leading the online chatter about Electric Vehicles (EVs) with 0.57 million mentions in 2023.

The social media buzz surrounding both 4-wheeler and 2-wheeler EVs was analysed across multiple platforms in this social listening report "Evolution: Insights on India's rapidly evolving EV market based on social media data". It identified important growth drivers, urgent category concerns, the latest OEM (Original Equipment Manaufacturer) and government initiatives, the most well-liked EV brands, and more.

Mr. Shantanu Sirohi, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Interactive Avenues, stated that since EVs have been around for a long time, the level of innovation and consumer interest in this space has accelerated manifold in the past few years. The team researched the market to provide a comprehensive report that detailed the EV growth story, the newest trends, opportunities, technologies, and customer demands, with a focus on the 2-wheeler and 4-wheeler segments. The research has been done by utilising cutting-edge analytics and best-in-class tools to analyse the category landscape.

The report further mentioned that EV owners have saved lakhs within the first few years with a running cost of less than Rs. 2/km (US$ 0.02/km). Customers also find owning an Electric Vehicle (EV) to be more economical due to the vehicle's lower maintenance and operating costs as well as its alluring tax advantages.

There is a significant jump in concerns regarding customer support and service center/dealership, the report said, adding that while mentions around fire incidents went down year-on-year (y-o-y), this remains the second biggest concern; recurring fire/explosion cases have impacted sales of Ola and other brands.

Of the 6,586 public charging stations for 20.65 lakh EVs in India, Assam, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh have the most EVs per station. The report also mentioned that standardisation of battery charging ports is the need of the hour.

By 2030, the government plans to have 46,397 public EV charging stations installed in nine main cities, achieving a nine-fold increase in the infrastructure for charging EVs.

The report further stated that TVS tops online advocacy charts in most aspects, including price, battery and performance, comfort and convenience, vehicle safety, sustainability, product aesthetics and partnerships. Further, Ola tops sales charts with 232 thousand vehicles sold; Ather inched closer to Ola after mentions around the latter dipped by 13% year-over-year (y-o-y).

In the four-wheeler segment, Toyota came second only to Tata despite not having a full EV car yet, while Mahindra gained significant ground owing to the XUV400 EV launch.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.