PUNE: Registration of e-vehicles and hybrid four-wheelers running on both petrol and CNG is gathering pace primarily due to the constant rise in fuel prices in the city.
On Monday, a litre of petrol and diesel in Pune cost Rs 104.20 and Rs 94.59, respectively. The registration of e-vehicles steadily increased in the first six months of this year, except during April and May when there were stringent Covid-induced restrictions and the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Regional Transport Offices (RTO) were closed.
“We were looking at an increase in registration of e-vehicles by almost 73% in March this year compared to January in the Pune RTO. June recorded a significant increase and the registrations are expected to surpass the January figures,” a Pune RTO official said.
In the Pimpri Chinchwad RTO, the numbers are more impressive with the June figures (until June 28) already surpassing the January numbers. “We are looking at an increase of around 124% when we compare the figures with that of January and March. We should surpass the March numbers in both RTOs next month. The registration process has been made simpler and the dealers can do it online,” the official said.
The Pune RTO witnessed a 47% increase in e-vehicle registrations in 2020 as against the numbers of 2019. The corresponding rise in the Pimpri Chinchwad RTO was almost 112%. “Earlier, the maximum number of e-vehicles getting registered were mainly goods transport vehicles, such as ecarts. Now the trend is changing. Registration of electricity-run two- wheelers is now higher than goods transport vehicles. The main reasons are the ever-increasing fuel prices and easy maintenance of an e- vehicle,” another RTO official in Pune said.
The deputy regional transport office and in-charge of the Pimpri Chinchwad RTO, Atul Aade, said the maximum registrations were that of the electric two-wheelers — much higher than the numbers of cars, e-carts (goods) and regular ecarts. An RTO official said there were higher registrations related to operation of the hybrid vehicles “Till June 28 this year, 6,216 such vehicles were registered in Pune. The number was 12,460 last year. In 2019, as many as 21,035 vehicles were registered in the Pune RTO. The numbers declined in 2020 due to the pandemic. But this year, the registration of hybrid vehicles will surpass the 2020 figures,” another official said.
“In the Pimpri Chinchwad RTO office, 5,774 such vehicles were registered in the first six months of this year. In 2020, as many as 11,654 such vehicles were registered and another 14,772 in 2019,” he said.
Shadab Shaikh, who deals in pre-used cars, said people were mainly looking for hybrid vehicles.
“A lot of customers are looking for vehicles that run on CNG or on CNG and petrol/diesel. We get around 6-7 customers looking for such vehicles each week,” he said.
The number of electric vehicles registered in 2020-21 totalled 1,442 compared with 672 in 2019-20. These included more than 90% two-wheelers, especially scooters.