Electric Truck Sales Rise In August With Pm E-Drive Incentives

Sales surge in August

Sales of electric trucks in India almost doubled in the first three weeks of August, driven by the Central government’s PM E-DRIVE scheme and new private financing options that have begun to unlock the market for commercial electrification.

According to the government’s Vahan portal, a total of 60 electric trucks in the medium and heavy goods carrier categories were registered as of 19 August. This marks a sharp increase compared to earlier months in 2025, where sales ranged between 11 units in February and 38 in May.

PM E-DRIVE incentives at play

The Ministry of Heavy Industries notified guidelines in July for claiming incentives under the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme. The policy offers upfront subsidies between ₹2.7 lakh and ₹9.3 lakh for each truck purchased. More than 5,600 trucks are expected to be subsidised under this programme, which now runs until March 2028 after a recent extension.

The scheme covers medium and heavy-duty commercial trucks weighing between 3.5–55 tonnes. However, it also requires buyers to provide a scrapping certificate for a truck of similar size, a clause that may limit participation by smaller operators.

Cutting emissions from road freight

India’s logistics sector is one of the largest sources of emissions. The International Energy Agency estimates that transportation contributes about 12% of India’s total carbon footprint, with diesel trucks responsible for roughly one-third of that. A joint study by Niti Aayog and WRI India highlights that switching to heavy goods carriers electric models could play a critical role in decarbonising freight.

Yet uptake has been slow. “Long-haul electric trucks have virtually not taken off,” Niti Aayog observed in its 4 August report, adding that the high electric truck price and lack of financing remain the biggest hurdles.

Private financing

Private lenders have started to fill this gap. The commerce ministry’s Ease of Doing Business initiative, through its National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) platform, launched a ₹500 crore viability gap funding programme and credit outlay exclusively for electric trucks.

“The recent ₹9-10 lakh incentive announced under the PM E-DRIVE scheme is further reducing the total cost of ownership, but electric truck fleet operators still need initial capital to accelerate their procurement and deployment,” NHEV stated on 1 August.

NHEV had earlier tested the financing model on a fleet of 55-tonne N3 electric trucks manufactured by Ashok Leyland in September 2024. Based on those trials, Abhijeet Sinha, programme director at Ease of Doing Business, said, “The private capital-backed funding will significantly reduce the price of electric trucks in India… expected to come down to ₹99 lakh in a few weeks, and post-PM E-DRIVE incentive, it will further come down to ₹90 lakh from the current ₹1.25 crore price tag.”

Policy vs private sector push

The biggest difference between the government’s EV subsidies in India and private capital-led financing lies in the scrapping mandate. The electric truck scrapping policy under PM E-DRIVE requires proof of scrapping a similar truck, while private lending schemes do not impose such conditions.

This could mean that smaller transporters who cannot afford to retire older vehicles may prefer private financing over the government route.

Conclusion

Of the 834,578 trucks sold in India in 2024, only 6,220 were electric, and almost all were below 3.5 tonnes. Just 280 trucks were in the higher weight categories critical for long-haul freight. For mass adoption, truck financing in India will be as important as upfront electric vehicle incentives.

Industry experts believe the combination of EV subsidies India, private lending, and policy backing from Niti Aayog electric trucks strategies could finally accelerate adoption of commercial trucks in the electric segment. The coming months will reveal whether this early August surge in E-truck sales in India can be sustained.

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