An EV is a shortened acronym for an electric vehicle. EVs are vehicles that are either partially or fully powered on electric power. Electric vehicles have low running costs as they have less moving parts for maintaining and also very environmentally friendly as they use little or no fossil fuels (petrol or diesel). Electric cars have an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine. The motor is powered by a large battery pack placed in the car, which can be recharged through a wall socket or portable charger.

An electric vehicle (EV) is one that operates on an electric motor, instead of an internal-combustion engine that generates power by burning a mix of fuel and gases. Therefore, such as vehicle is seen as a possible replacement for current-generation automobile, in order to address the issue of rising pollution, global warming, depleting natural resources, etc. Though the concept of electric vehicles has been around for a long time, it has drawn a considerable amount of interest in the past decade amid a rising carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of fuel-based vehicles.

In India, the first concrete decision to incentivise electric vehicles was taken in 2010. According to a Rs 95-crore scheme approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the government announced a financial incentive for manufacturers for electric vehicles sold in India. The scheme, effective from November 2010, envisaged incentives of up to 20 per cent on ex-factory prices of vehicles, subject to a maximum limit.