5% of Existing, Prospective Car Owners Likely to Buy Electric Car in 2024: LocalCircles Survey – News18

At least 5% of the existing or prospective car owners are likely to buy an electric car in the next 12 months, a LocalCircles survey has found.

The survey received over 40,000 responses from consumers located in 319 districts of India. A total of 63% respondents were men, while 37% respondents were women. Around 42% respondents were from tier 1, 34% from tier 2 and 24% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

THE TOP REASON

The survey first asked: “What is the top reason that is limiting you from buying an electric car in the next 12 months”. Among the 18,919 responses, 5% stated that the query is ‘not applicable (I am likely to buy an electric car in the next 12 months’. One in four respondents shared that they ‘don’t have a need to purchase any car at this time’. Apart from them, the rest pointed to different reasons why they have no plans to acquire an E-4W. Of them, 7% indicated ‘not enough choices of models in my budget’; 21% felt E-cars are ‘more expensive as compared to regular cars’; another 21% are deterred as ‘there are not enough electric car charging stations in my area/ city/ town’; 12% admitted they “don’t know enough about these vehicles’; 3% indicated there were other reasons that were hindering any decision in favour of electric cars; 5% “don’t have the funds to purchase an electric car at this time”. To sum up, only 5% of the existing/prospective car owners are “likely to buy an electric car in the next 12 months”. Car sales in India touched 4 million units in 2023 and 72,321 electric four wheelers were registered. If the 5% of the existing/prospective car owners as found in the survey buy one car each and the annual car sales maintains, it indicates demand of 200,000 electric cars in 2024.

‘READY TO SPEND Rs 8-10 LAKHS’

The LocalCircles survey next sought to find out how much are these prospective buyers of electric cars (identified as 5% of the existing/prospective car owners) likely to spend on the vehicle. It asked them, “If you are considering buying an electric car in the next 12 months, how much are you likely to spend on it?” Of the 10,913 respondents to this query, 55% indicated their preference is for electric cars costing between INR 8-10 lakhs; 16% indicated ‘INR 10-15 lakhs’; 13% are willing to spend between ‘INR 15-20 lakhs’; and 16% give no clear response. In effect, 55% of the (5% existing or prospective car owners) who are likely to buy an electric car in the next 12 months plan to spend INR 8-10 lakhs on it.

FOR CLEANER ENVIRONMENT, FUEL PRICES

Reaching out to those who are keen to own an electric car, LocalCircles asked: “If you are considering buying an electric car in the next 12 months, what is the primary reason for it?” Of the 10,683 who responded to this query, 44% or the largest section indicated “contribution to cleaner environment”; 31% have had “enough of buying (petroleum transport) fuel and coping with fuel price fluctuations”; 15% are attracted by “lower total cost of ownership”; 5% by “other reasons”; and 5% gave no clear indication.

The survey has revealed that around 15% of the prospective buyers are not adequately aware about electric cars, which means there is need for more and better communications to raise awareness.

The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey. LocalCircles is a community social media platform which enables citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions and enables the government to make policies that are citizen and small business centric.