Chandigarh: A few years ago, the electric vehicle in Chandigarh was easy to picture: a scooter gliding through the city’s broad, tree-lined streets, bought as much for the savings at the petrol pump as for the novelty of going electric.That picture is changing. In the first five months of this financial year, Chandigarh registered 3,243 electric vehicles. Nearly seven in 10 of them — 2,254 — were cars.It is a striking change in a market that only recently seemed to belong to electric two-wheelers. In the whole of the previous financial year, the city registered 2,356 electric motorcycles and scooters. This year, their numbers are running at roughly the same pace.If registrations continue at their current pace, Chandigarh could end the year with roughly 7,800 electric vehicles, well above the 6,036 registered in 2025-26.The numbers tell a story not just about technology but about taste, income and the changing meaning of an electric car.For some buyers, the appeal is still the old one: electricity costs less than petrol. But increasingly, the electric car is being considered for reasons that have little to do with the price of fuel.“Earlier, the first question was always, ‘How much will I save?’ Now people ask about the car — the range, the interiors, the technology, how it drives,” said a dealer who sells electric cars in Chandigarh.The distinction mattersAn electric scooter is, in many ways, a straightforward proposition. It can replace a petrol scooter for a fraction of the running cost and is well suited to short urban journeys. An electric car asks a different question of the buyer. It competes not only on economy but on comfort, performance and design.And Chandigarh, with its relatively high car ownership and compact urban geography, offers an unusually receptive setting.The changing EV buyerThe transformation can be seen in the registration history.In 2023-24, Chandigarh recorded just 302 electric cars. The number rose to 1,713 the following year and to 3,665 in 2025-26.In the first five months of this year, there have already been 2,254.Electric two-wheelers followed a different trajectory. Their registrations rose from 570 in 2023-24 to 1,946 in 2024-25 and 2,356 last year. But with 980 registered so far this year, their growth appears to have settled.Dealers say the distinction reflects two different generations of EV buyers.The first came looking for an inexpensive way to commute. The second is arriving with the expectations of a conventional car buyer.“The EV is no longer necessarily the second vehicle in the family,” said another dealer. “People are increasingly considering it as their main car.”One owner, who recently replaced a petrol car with an electric model, described the decision less as an environmental calculation than a change in what he expected from a car.“The fuel saving was important, but it was not the reason I bought it,” he said. “I liked the quietness, the acceleration and the technology. It felt like a newer kind of car.”That sentiment would have been unusual a few years ago, when buying an EV often required a buyer to explain why he was willing to compromise.Now the question is increasingly whether the petrol car is the compromise.The end of the noveltyChandigarh’s EV numbers have risen almost sevenfold in two years, from 873 registrations in 2023-24 to 6,036 last year.But perhaps the more revealing figure is not the total. It is the changing balance between cars and two-wheelers.The early electric-vehicle market was built on necessity: short distances, rising fuel prices and the promise of lower running costs.The emerging market is being built on choice.There are now enough electric cars, across enough price categories, for buyers to compare them with one another rather than simply with petrol and diesel vehicles. Range is still discussed, but so are acceleration, cabin quality, software, charging at home and the experience of driving without the sound of an engine.“Customers have become much more confident,” the dealer said. “They are not asking whether an EV works anymore. They are asking which EV suits them.”That may be the most consequential change in Chandigarh’s electric-vehicle story.“The city has not simply begun buying more electric vehicles. It is beginning to buy them differently. The scooter helped make the electric vehicle ordinary. The car may be what makes it aspirational,” said the dealer.
