India continues to be the world’s largest electric tricycle market for the second consecutive year as sales grew nearly 20% to reach about 700,000 vehicles in 2024, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report.
The Paris-based energy watchdog said in its global EV prospects that India continues to drive much of the global electric tricycle market. Although the global tricycle (3W) market shrank by 5% from the previous year, electric 3W sales grew by more than 10%, exceeding one million vehicles in 2024. Electric 3W sales account for almost a quarter of all 3W sales, up from one fifth in 2023.
The market is highly concentrated, and China and India together account for more than 90% of electricity and traditional 3W sales. “In the past three years, China’s 3W electrical stagnation has been less than 15%. In 2023, India surpassed China to become the world’s largest electricity 3Ws market and maintained that position in 2024, with sales increasing by nearly 20%, reaching nearly 20%, reaching nearly 700,000 vehicles.”
This translates to a record 57% share of electricity sales in 2024, up 3% the previous year. It said that this growth trend appears to continue due to policy support under the new PM electronic driving program, which allocated budgets in 2024 to support the launch of more than 3,00,000 electric 3WS for commercial use – an estimated total fleet (Electrical and ICE) estimated over 10 million vehicles in 2023.
China, India and Southeast Asia remain the world’s largest 2/3W market, accounting for 80% of global sales in 2024, with 2/3WS being the main model of private passenger transport in these regions, the IEA said. “India’s increasingly active electric 2W market has a total of 220 OEMs in 2024, up from 180 OEMs in 2023, although four market leaders account for a total of 80% of the 1.3 million electric 2WS units in 2024 (6% of the total 2W market).
While the upfront purchase price of the electric 2WS is on average higher than the traditional 2WS, the increased competition has prompted OEMs to offer more affordable electric models. For example, Indian market leader Ola has released its S1X entry model, equipped with a 2 kWh battery and 6 kW peak power, at a price of Rs 70,000, below the average price of the five best-selling ICE 2W models.
“Policy support also helps bridge the affordability gap between electric and ICE 2W models, and the new PM electric drive revolution is an ongoing financial support for innovative automotive enhancement (PM E-Drive) policies that have previously been provided under the faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles (FAME)-II and electric mobility promotion programme measures.”
This provides purchase incentives for electric 2WS (a purchase subsidy of up to Rs 5,000/kWh for 2WS equipped with lithium-ion batteries) as well as 3WS and other emerging EV categories (particularly private cars) with a total budget of US$1.3 billion.
The program is planned until March 2026 to support the launch of approximately 2.5 million electric 2WS, up from the previous 1 million No.2 of the II Fame policy.
In terms of manufacturing, India’s 80 largest electric 2W manufacturers accounted for 10 million electric 2W in 2024, almost 8 times the total production capacity of domestic sales that year. If all OEM announcements are achieved, capacity is expected to increase to 17 million electric 2W in the near term.
On electric vehicles, the IEA said total sales in India have only increased slightly, reaching nearly 1,00,000 (or 2%) in 2024. Sales in India rose 45% year-on-year, approaching sales of 35,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2025.
“In India, high import tariffs on electric vehicles and the availability of affordable electric models mean that China’s share of electric vehicle sales in the country will remain below 15% in 2024.
It said: “While the cheapest electric vehicle model is produced locally by Chinese OEM (SAIC’s city car, MG Comet EV, priced under $8,000), the average price of imported Chinese BEV is the average price made by domestic manufacturers.”
In 2024, all battery electric vehicle (BEV) models produced by Indian automakers are under $20,000, while imported Chinese BEV models are not priced at that threshold.
Overall, the average price gap between battery-electric cars and ice cars for small cars has dropped below 15%, while the average price gap for SUVs in 2024. The IEA said that since 2020, the deployment of electric buses in India has grown rapidly, with inventory inventories growing from less than 3,000 to 11,500 by the end of 2024.
