Assam’s electric vehicle adoption is rising, but drivers and experts say the shift is being powered more by daily savings than by state policy incentives.
E-autorickshaw and e-rickshaw drivers say lower running costs make EVs attractive, even as EMIs, battery replacement costs and repair concerns remain major risks.
Assam’s 2021 EV policy promised subsidies, tax waivers and registration fee exemptions, but several EV owners said they had not received subsidies or were unclear about the benefits.
Poor charging infrastructure, limited financing and range anxiety continue to slow the wider shift to electric mobility, especially for four-wheelers.
Tasem Ali starts his day in Guwahati with his Bajaj GoGo electric autorickshaw, taking rides through Uber, Ola and Rapido. He switched to an electric vehicle about a year ago. Ali says he is happier owning his own vehicle, which is also easier to drive than the diesel-run Tata Magic he previously operated as a paid employee.
“The main attraction is the cost-effectiveness of the e-autorickshaw,” he told Down To Earth (DTE). “With a full charge, I can continue my trips till noon, covering almost 100 kilometres. I can also charge my vehicle at home, and the cost is much lower than fossil fuel.”
But the monthly instalments remain a heavy burden for drivers like Ali, who cannot afford a large down payment on an electric three-wheeler that costs about Rs 4 lakh.
Ali is far from alone. Across Assam, many drivers are switching to electric autorickshaws despite the financial risks. The trend is not limited to cities. Rural areas are already crowded with e-rickshaws, locally known as tomtoms or pilpilis, while electric autorickshaws made by Bajaj, TVS and Mahindra are steadily expanding their presence.
This shift helped make Assam the state with the second-highest share of EV registrations in the last financial year. E-rickshaws account for more than half of Assam’s total registered EVs.
For drivers like Ali, the reason for switching is straightforward: EVs offer a chance to earn more than petrol- or diesel-run vehicles, even with the risk of debt and battery-replacement costs.
In Nahira, a village about 20-25 km from Guwahati, Bipul Das has depended on e-rickshaws as his family’s main source of income for more than a decade. His experience reflects the changing economics of electric mobility in Assam.
“I switched to a tomtom 10 years ago because it freed me from the strenuous labour of pedalling a manual rickshaw,” Das said. “It cost me more than Rs 1.5 lakh then, and I have changed my e-rickshaw once since. I am still paying the EMI.”
He said earnings were better when there were fewer e-rickshaws on the road. But as their numbers have grown, competition has increased. “Earlier, I could make more profit because there was less competition. Now e-rickshaws have increased, and it is getting harder to earn as before,” he said.
The biggest financial risk, he said, remains the battery. Replacing the battery system in some e-rickshaws can cost about Rs 32,000, while newer single-battery systems can cost around Rs 90,000 to replace.
Despite the rise in e-rickshaws and e-autorickshaws, concerns over affordability and possible losses remain widespread. Arabainda Baishya, who has driven a petrol-run autorickshaw for more than a decade, said he is not ready to switch.
“Buying an EV will cost me around Rs 5-6 lakh, and since I cannot afford a large down payment, my EMIs will rise,” he said.
He said the cost of EV parts was also a concern. “The petrol-run auto can be repaired very easily. With an EV, the battery system is the heart of the vehicle, and I do not think repairs will be simple. So there is a risk. I will also have to continue paying EMIs for four to five years.”
Assam introduced Electric Vehicle Policy Of Assam in 2021, with several targets to be met by September 2026. These included EVs making up 25 per cent of all vehicles registered in the state by 2026 and converting 100 per cent of the public bus fleet to electric buses by 2030.
The policy proposed incentives to encourage adoption, including exemption or reimbursement of road tax and registration fees for EVs across two-, three- and four-wheeler categories for five years.
It also proposed subsidies of up to Rs 20,000 for electric two-wheelers, Rs 50,000 for electric three-wheelers and Rs 1.5 lakh for electric four-wheelers. But conversations with EV owners suggest that policy implementation has been uneven.
The e-autorickshaw owners DTE spoke to said they had not received subsidies. When asked about tax waivers, they were unclear about how much had been waived, suggesting that many drivers were either unaware of the incentives or unable to access them. For most, the shift to EVs appeared to be driven less by state policy than by the immediate economics of lower running costs.
A report published in November 2025 in hyperlocal weekly tabloid Gplus highlighted anomalies in the disbursal of incentives promised under the policy. It also cited the Transport Department’s claim that registration fees had been waived and road tax reduced.
DTE approached the District Transport Office for details on the implementation of policy incentives, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Samyak Jain, founder of A Plus Charge, an EV charging infrastructure company operating in the Northeast, said the policy had not been properly implemented.
“When the policy was made in 2021, the catch point was the incentives aimed at attracting people. However, subsidy delivery has grossly failed,” he said. “Success in delivering the waiver on road tax and registration fees is also questionable.”
Jain said he knew people who were buying EVs in Assam but registering them in Meghalaya to access better incentives. “Recently, one of my friends did this with a Mercedes-Benz EV and secured a few lakh rupees as subsidy,” he said.
He added that the rapid increase in electric two- and three-wheelers was largely being driven by favourable operating costs. By switching to an electric vehicle, he said, an autorickshaw driver could save at least Rs 500 a day, or nearly Rs 15,000 a month, in running costs.
Rituraj Sarma, a transport planner associated with Purvca Foundation, also said subsidies had not reached many intended users. The government’s push in public transport, however, is more visible. More than 300 air-conditioned electric buses now operate in Guwahati, improving daily travel in the congested city. The service has also expanded to moderately longer routes.
Jain said rising fossil fuel costs were making more people consider EVs. But he said the state had not done enough to make buyers feel financially secure. “People are ready to switch to EVs,” he said. “What is lacking is making them feel secure in purchasing and handling EVs, even after having a policy with specific targets.”
Because EVs remain more expensive to buy than petrol- or diesel-run vehicles, experts say incentives and financing need to work properly if buyers are to make the switch. This is especially important for four-wheelers.
Sarma said the higher upfront cost meant petrol, diesel and CNG vehicles continued to dominate. “We still do not have a low-cost electric hatchback car. Banks also appear restrictive in providing loans for EVs,” he said.
He added that people in the Northeast face range anxiety because of the lack of charging corridors for long-distance travel. “There has to be an e-mobility ecosystem to have a meaningful transition. For that, there have to be more comprehensive plans and proper implementation,” he said.
Three-wheelers make up the largest share of Assam’s EV sector, surpassing both two-wheelers and four-wheelers. The reason is largely economic. For four-wheeler EVs, however, range anxiety remains a major barrier. Assam has limited charging infrastructure, making long-distance travel difficult for electric car owners.
Jain said the entire Northeast accounted for only about 1 per cent of India’s charging infrastructure. “On the contrary, the western, northern, central and southern parts of India account for 95 per cent of the country’s charging infrastructure,” he said.
A Plus Charge, which began as a start-up in 2021, set up its first EV charging station at Kaziranga. It now has 63 to 64 stations across Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. The company is developing a corridor of EV charging stations along the Siliguri-Tinsukia highway, with chargers placed every 60-70 km.
Government charging infrastructure could also offer some relief in future. Some charging stations set up for long-distance electric buses operated by the Assam State Transport Corporation may be opened for public use.
“We have heard that the ASTC charging station at Jakhalabandha, near Kaziranga, will be opened to the public,” Jain said.
Air pollution has become a growing concern in Assam’s urban centres, particularly Guwahati, where pollution levels have risen sharply in recent years. Five places in Assam fall under the non-attainment category under the National Clean Air Programme: Guwahati, Nalbari, Nagaon, Sivasagar and Silchar.
An emission inventory and source apportionment study by the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati examined the contribution of vehicles and other sources to particulate pollution in these areas.
The chart breaks down the sources of PM2.5 and PM10 pollution in five non-attainment areas, showing the share contributed by each source.
Professor Sharad Gokhale of IIT Guwahati, who led the study, said EVs could help reduce tailpipe emissions, particularly fine particulate matter. “Vehicular tailpipe emissions are one of the major sectors adding to PM2.5,” he said. “Combustion-based emissions contribute more to PM2.5, whereas non-combustion sources such as road dust and construction contribute more to PM10.”
He said the share of PM2.5 in PM10 was increasing, indicating the need to reduce vehicle emissions. “PM2.5, which is mainly from vehicles, is close to 20 per cent in all five non-attainment places of Assam. PM2.5 therefore needs regulation through technology or policy. EVs could be the alternative,” he said.
But Gokhale said the biggest impact would come from replacing two-wheelers, three-wheelers and buses first, rather than focusing mainly on cars. “The share of two-wheelers is almost 50 per cent of the traffic fleet. It is viable in Assam as well; a few electric city buses have already been introduced in Guwahati,” he said.
He added that EV adoption must be accompanied by charging infrastructure and battery disposal management. However, he cautioned that EVs would not solve all particulate pollution.
“A lot of PM10 and PM2.5 is also added due to non-tailpipe sources, such as resuspended dust from vehicle movement and wear and tear of tyres and brakes,” he said. “Road dust, in particular, turned out to be the major source of particulate pollution.”