A scoping review of electric vehicle adoption barriers and policy gaps in South Asia

Abstract

South Asia is rapidly motorizing, facing acute crises in urban air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and petroleum import dependence. Electric vehicles (EVs) offer a promising transition, yet the regional evidence base remains fragmented. This scoping review, guided by the PRISMA-ScR framework, systematically maps the EV adoption landscape across South Asia by synthesizing 75 empirical and policy-based sources. Findings reveal that the region’s transition is structurally distinct from high-income markets, driven primarily by the electrification of micro-mobility (two- and three-wheelers) and public transit, where total cost of ownership parity is rapidly approaching. Despite ambitious national targets, mass adoption is bottlenecked by severe interlocking barriers: high upfront capital costs, unpredictable import tariffs, inadequate charging infrastructure, and consumer status quo bias. Crucially, the environmental efficacy of EV adoption is bifurcated. In hydro-dominant nations like Nepal and Bhutan, EVs offer immediate decarbonization and macroeconomic shielding against oil imports. Conversely, on fossil fuel-dependent grids (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), unmanaged adoption risks displacing emissions from tailpipes to smokestacks. The review also identifies profound methodological gaps in the literature, including a reliance on stated-preference surveys, a lack of grid-specific life-cycle assessments, and insufficient focus on the informal transport sector. Ultimately, successful EV diffusion in South Asia requires moving beyond fragmented financial incentives toward integrated frameworks that simultaneously address grid modernization, regulatory stability, battery circularity, and socio-economic equity.