This August, as the flag rises, we celebrate the EV not merely as a cleaner machine, but as a proud instrument of a second, shining independence.
Every August, as the tricolour climbs the Red Fort, we remember 1947 and the price of that freedom and increasingly, drive home in a vehicle carrying the promise of a new one, built on Indian innovation and ambition. That is the inspiring story this issue of Mobility Electrified wants to tell. Seventy-nine years on, India still imports a significant share of its crude oil. We fought for political sovereignty last century; this century offers an equally proud chapter: energy self-reliance, powered by homegrown technology and everyday Indian choices. This is the spirit of The Electrified Decade, our theme this year. If 1947 was about who governs us, today’s opportunity is about who powers us.
Numbers rarely move the heart, but these should. India’s crude oil bill runs into hundreds of billions of rupees annually, money that, redirected homeward, could build metros, power grids and green industries for generations. Every electric two-wheeler, e-rickshaw and SUV rolling off assembly lines in Pune or Sanand is a step toward self-reliance you can see in a showroom and hear in a silent engine. The trajectory is thrilling: EV penetration has grown tenfold since 2019-20, to roughly 8.5% of sales in FY2025-26. PM Modi noted annual EV sales surged sixteen-fold, from 1.5 lakh units in 2009-10 to 25 lakh in 2025-26. FAME, PM E-DRIVE and GST cuts have shaped this momentum. Two-wheelers, ridden by the delivery rider, student and commuter, make up well over half of all EVs sold, with the shift unfolding joyfully beyond metros, into Tier-2 towns.
Ahead, domestic battery manufacturing, indigenous cell chemistry and charging networks reaching highway dhabas and housing societies bring complete energy self-reliance closer each quarter, built brick by brick, charger by charger, through policymakers, entrepreneurs, engineers and everyday riders. This August 15th, we celebrate the EV not just as a cleaner machine, but as an instrument of a second independence, measured in barrels not imported and rupees kept home.
Azadi se electrification tak. This time, the road runs entirely on our own terms.
