Car-buyers are turning over a green leaf: EV charging infrastructure needs a boost

A 16% year-on-year rise in passenger vehicle sales in August helps explain cheerful faces in India's automobile sector. But there's a more impressive trend awheel if not afoot. Research by Equirus Securities confirms what was observed earlier too: a big shift in energy preferences among buyers away from petrol to cleaner CNG and electricity. Hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) have been rolling onto the streets in fast-rising numbers. Together, these three categories accounted for 42% of sales last month, overtaking the 41% share of petrol vehicles, which fell from 46% a year earlier. Category-wise, the share of CNG vehicles expanded to 25% in August from 21% a year earlier and that of EVs to 7.7% from 5.9%, although the EV share shrank a bit from 8.1% in July. Broadly, however, adoption of clean fuels seems to be on an upward trend. Some of this may be down to anxieties around ethanol-mixed petrol in the wake of an oil shock, but the EV-versus-hybrid choice will depend on how quickly India expands battery-charging ports. Hybrids, which don't need to be plugged in, are a bridge to fully electric road mobility, a worthy goal. India's charging networks clearly need to grow faster.