India sees record gasoline and diesel consumption in vehicle sales, but electric vehicles are yet to catch up
“This is a record consumption with a monthly average of more than 3 MMT. Consumption, driven by growth in vehicle ownership, has almost doubled over the past ten years, with a CAGR of 8.1%. Clearly, the dynamism of vehicle sales provides a considerable boost to gasoline sales,” the report notes.
According to Vahan listings and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, total vehicle sales stood at 2.39 crore in FY24, 12.5% higher than the Previous exercice. Of these, passenger vehicles or cars recorded sales of 42.19 lakh, up 8.45% year-on-year, with around 60% of sales being SUVs, indicating their dominance in the segment .
Three-wheeler sales registered a growth of 41.5 per cent with 6.92 lakh units in FY24 compared to 4.89 lakh in the previous fiscal. Two-wheelers, on the other hand, which account for the lion’s share of vehicle sales in India, recorded sales of 1.8 crore during the year compared to 1.59 crore in the previous year, implying a growth of 13.3% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, 9.68 lakh commercial vehicles were sold in FY24, an increase of just 0.6% over the previous year.
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Similarly, diesel consumption in FY24 at 89.65 MMT (1.86 mb/d) increased by 4.4% compared to sales of 85.9 MMT (1.78 mb/d ) in FY23. “Consumption related to economic activities grew at a CAGR of 2.7% over a decade,” the ministry report said.
Electric vehicles haven’t caught up yet: less than a lakh cars sold
The report from the Ministry of Oil highlights that even if sales of electric vehicles are gaining ground, they still represent only 6.85% of total registered vehicles.
In the case of passenger vehicles, the number of electric vehicles is less than one lakh and accounts for only 1.92% of the total registrations in the segment. The largest share of electric vehicle sales comes from three-wheelers, accounting for around 38% of the total registered electric vehicles in the country.
In the overall three-wheeler segment, electric three-wheelers accounted for over 54% in the last fiscal year.
In terms of sales, with 9.47 lakh units sold during the year, electric two-wheelers hold the largest share of all electric vehicles. However, this is still only 5.4% of the total two-wheelers registered and not just half of the additional two-wheelers registered (21.11 lakh).
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EV buses and minibuses represent only 5.68% of total EV registrations, while sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV) and medium commercial vehicles (MCV) represent an even smaller share of 0.74%. In the case of trucks, considered difficult to replace, the number of electric vehicles represents only 0.08%.
Petrol and Diesel Sales to Remain Upbeat in FY25
The petroleum ministry expects sales of petrol and diesel to also continue to grow in the current financial year.
In FY25, gasoline consumption is expected to exceed 39 MMT or 0.94 mb/d (million barrels per day), while diesel consumption is expected to exceed 92 MMT or 1.90 mb/d.
India currently consumes 5.1 mbpd of petroleum products, including jet fuel (ATF), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), naphtha, bitumen and petroleum coke, among others, with diesel gasoline accounting for over half.
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