Despite motorized rickshaws being a popular symbol associated with India, the country only became the biggest seller of electric three-wheelers last year. Previously, China - a quick adopter of electric mobility in general - had seen higher annual three-wheeler EV sales. However, in 2023, only 320,000 were newly sold in the country, down from 350,000 in 2022. According to the IEA Global EV Report 2024, 3W EV sales picked up in India, rising by almost two-thirds in just one year to 580,000. There are few other markets for electric three-wheelers in the world outside of Asia, with only Europe selling any sizable number in 2023 at 24,000, up from 5,000 in 2022. The continent has its own traditional three-wheelers originating in Italy and elsewhere, which are not very widespread, however.
The market for electric two-wheelers is bigger globally at almost 8 million sold last year. Here, China remains the dominant country with sales reaching almost 6 million (and India in second place at just short of 1 million). The market has shrunk from a high of 11 million vehicles sold in 2021. Again, loses have come from China as other countries expanded use. Here, lag from Covid-era supply chain disruptions has continued to hamper growth into 2023.
