Electric vehicles accounted for 8% of all motor vehicle registrations in India in 2025-26, according to a Down To Earth analysis of VAHAN data.
E-rickshaws drove a large share of EV registrations in Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, with the EV share falling sharply when they were excluded.
The data shows India’s electric mobility transition is not being shaped only by private cars or high-end EVs, but also by low-cost livelihood vehicles.
Electric vehicles accounted for 8 per cent of all motor vehicle registrations in India in the 2025-26 financial year, according to a Down To Earth analysis of data from the government’s VAHAN dashboard.
But the figures show that in several states, the growth is being driven heavily by electric rickshaws, also known as e-rickshaws or tuktuks — a low-cost form of public transport that provides livelihoods to many low-income drivers.
Tripura recorded the highest share of electric vehicle registrations in the country, at 18 per cent, followed by Assam at 16 per cent, Delhi at 13 per cent, Kerala at 12 per cent, and Karnataka and Goa at 11 per cent each. But when e-rickshaws are excluded from the total EV registration count, the picture changes substantially in several states, with EV shares falling by between four and eight percentage points.
Assam, which had the second-highest EV registration share in the last financial year, saw its share almost halve when e-rickshaws were excluded — from 16 per cent to 8 per cent. This was the sharpest percentage-point drop among the states analysed.
The data shows that Assam registered more than 50,000 e-rickshaws in 2025-26, out of a total vehicle registration base of more than 500,000. This means close to one in 10 vehicles registered in the state during the year was an e-rickshaw.
A similar pattern was seen in West Bengal, where the EV share fell from 10 per cent to 3 per cent when e-rickshaws were excluded. In Uttar Pradesh, it fell from 10 per cent to 5 per cent; in Bihar, from 8 per cent to 4 per cent; and in Delhi, from 13 per cent to 9 per cent.
Uttar Pradesh registered the highest number of e-rickshaws in the country during the financial year, at more than 200,000, out of a total vehicle base of about four million.
West Bengal followed with nearly 90,000 e-rickshaws, out of more than 1.3 million vehicles. Bihar registered more than 60,000 (out of over 1.5 million), Assam more than 50,000 (out of 500,000) and Delhi more than 30,000 (out of 800,000).
Together, these five states accounted for nearly 450,000 e-rickshaw registrations — close to 80 per cent of all e-rickshaw registrations in the country during the year.
In some states, EV registrations were spread more evenly across vehicle categories, including two-wheelers, cars, buses and three-wheelers.
Tripura showed the most diversified pattern. Its EV registration share fell only marginally, from 18 per cent to 17 per cent, when e-rickshaws were excluded. The state recorded fewer than 800 e-rickshaw registrations in 2025-26 — far below the numbers seen in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Delhi.
A similar trend was seen in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Odisha, where the overall EV share showed little change after e-rickshaws were removed from the count. Goa recorded only 10 e-rickshaw registrations during the year, Karnataka 337, Kerala 77 and Odisha 3,756.
Nationally, the EV registration share drops by 2 percentage points, from 8 to 7 percent, once e-rickshaws are excluded from the count — indicating that while e-rickshaws contribute meaningfully to the national EV total, their impact is heavily concentrated in a handful of states rather than spread evenly across the country.