South Mumbai has seen a huge leap in the enlistment of electric vehicles, including Tourist and luxury taxis, in more than a year, shows official information. At the MH-01 office in Tardeo, which serves the island city, the number of new electric cars registered increased by 85.01 percent to 1,271 in fiscal 2022-2023, up from 687 in the financial year 2021-2022.
There were 1,863 registrations for electric two-wheelers in FY23, up from 1,050 in the previous fiscal year, representing an increase of 77.43 percent in sales. Of all 1,853 motorcycles registered in FY23, up from 1,049 in FY22, and 10 mopeds, down from 1. There was no new e-scooter registered. Also, there has been an increase in the number of luxury and tourist electric taxis, with 320 registrations in FY23, up from 18 in the previous year.
The main downfall has been found in the enlistment of three-wheeler delivery vans for south Mumbai, from 28 in FY22 to 12 in FY23. However, a senior RTO official stated, “Overall, the registration of electric vehicles of all types has seen a sharp growth of 74.52 percent, going from 1,998 vehicles in 2021-2022 to 3,487 vehicles in 2022-2023.”
“Rate development of both two-wheelers and four-wheelers (vehicles) are almost something very similar. The users of two-wheelers may not be able to afford the higher initial investment, whereas car owners can. They, taxis and Ola/Uber, need incentives to switch to electric vehicles because they travel the most. In transport, BEST ought to just purchase EVs in future, however much as could be expected,” said A V Shenoy, a senior vehicle master with Mumbai Portability Gathering and Mumbai Vikas Samiti.
Mobility expert Rishi Aggarwal claims that EVs make little impact in terms of congestion. “They are good for air quality, but only electric buses can have a larger impact. But, the underlying fact is that electric mobility is overhyped. Just look at all the mining that is happening for EVs,” he stated.
