Monthly EV sales show a surge in October 2022

According to the latest data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), there has been a jump in auto sales numbers in the latest festive season and the numbers of October are just a manifestation of that. Apart from solid festival demand, there was a lot of revenge buying happening in the auto sector. Also, with the input costs down sharply, auto companies are able to pass on the lower input costs. The surge in sales has been across the segments but more prominent in segments like two wheeler and three wheelers which are price sensitive markets.

Now, before we go ahead, the data provided by FADA is slightly different from the data provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Each month end, SIAM sends numbers of auto dispatches. These are the dispatches made by the vehicle manufacturers to the dealers. However, that does not reflect the sales. What FADA reports is based on the actual vehicle registrations at the e-Vaahan portal, which is a much better indication of actual consumer demand for automobiles. Hence, the FADA happens to be a much better gauge of consumer demand. The real takeaway was in electric vehicles.

Here are some key takeaways from the FADA data

Here is what we gathered from the FADA numbers put out for the month of October.
Retail electric vehicle sales in India went up nearly 185 per cent year-on-year in October, latest data showed.

    a) Overall sales for the month of October 2022 was up 47.6% yoy at 20.94 lakh units of vehicles. The October 2022 sales are substantially higher compared to the months of October 2021, October 2020 and also October 2019 hinting at festive sales decisively bouncing back from the COVID lows. 

    b) Among the major drivers of growth in sales in the month of October 2022 were 3-wheelers, 2-wheelers, passenger cars and commercial vehicles in that order. However, the real story of October 2022 was not in the overall auto numbers  but in the electric vehicles (EV) numbers. They may still be a small component overall, but are growing at a rapid pace.

    c) If you look at the overall retail sales of EVs, including passenger vehicles, the number stood at 111,971 units in October 2022 compared to sales of 39,329 units in October 2021. That is yoy growth of 205%.

    d) If you just look at the passenger electric vehicle (PEV) segment for October 2022, it was 178% higher at 3,745 units. At the same time, the sales of electric commercial vehicles were up 125.6% at a relatively modest absolute figure of 274 units.

    e) The EV cream lay in the two wheelers and the three wheeler segment. For instance, in the month of October 2022, the 2-wheeler electrical vehicle sales was up nearly 4-fold yoy at 73,169 units. That is an approximate growth of 270% yoy growth. 

    f) The other big star in terms of green sales was the 3-wheeler EV segment, which saw sales surge by 92.87% to 34,793 units in October 2022, on a yoy basis.