Alternative‑Fuel Vehicles Beat Petrol in New Registrations for First Time

For the first time, vehicles running on alternative fuels captured a larger share than petrol‑run cars in new registrations up to August 2026, with 41.95% of fresh registrations classified as alternative‑fuel versus 40.85% petrol, according to data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). The alternative‑fuel category combines CNG, hybrid and electric models. Overall, petrol and diesel still dominate, making up 83.5% of the roughly 82 lakh vehicles registered between January and March 2026, but that is an 11.5‑percentage‑point drop from the same period in 2021 when they accounted for over 95% of the 57 lakh registrations. Electric vehicles (EVs) now represent 10.6% of total registrations. The surge is driven mainly by two‑wheelers and three‑wheelers. Two‑wheelers, which form more than 70% of all new vehicles, saw the EV share rise from 6.4% in 2025 to 9.1% in 2026, pushing the petrol‑two‑wheeler share below the 90% mark for the first time and helping push the overall petrol‑diesel share across all categories below 85% this year. In the three‑wheeler segment, which contributes about 4% of total sales, roughly 9.8 lakh units were registered by August and 60.5% of them were EVs; the petrol‑diesel share fell from nearly 30% in 2021 to under 15% in 2026, while CNG/LPG three‑wheelers also declined. In the car segment, the petrol‑diesel share dropped from 86% in 2021 to 61.6% in 2026, but the decline is largely due to a rise in hybrid models that use petrol with CNG or LNG rather than pure EVs. Hybrid EVs have held steady at about 8% since 2023. The data suggests that expanding charging infrastructure will be key to speeding up EV adoption in the car market.