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An electric-vehicle revolution is gaining ground in India.

The South Asian nation is home to about 1.5 million battery-powered, three-wheeled rickshaws – a fleet bigger than the total number of electric passenger cars sold in China since 2011. But while the world’s largest auto market dangled significant subsidies to encourage purchases of battery-powered cars, India’s e-movement hardly got a hand from the state.

Rather, drivers of the present three-wheelers weaving through crowded, smoggy streets discovered that e-rickshaws are quieter, faster, cleaner and cheaper to maintain than a traditional auto rickshaw. They also are less exhausting than cycle rickshaws, which require all-day peddling. So with more rides possible in a day, people are preferring to go by the e-rickshaws which are proving to be more lucrative.

According to Rahul Mishra, a principal at consulting firm A.T. Kearney as many as 11,000 new e-rickshaws are hitting the streets every month, and annual sales are expected to increase about 9 percent by 2021. Three-wheeled vehicles make up a $1.5 billion market, and manufacturers of electric versions include Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Kinetic Engineering Ltd., along with smaller outfits that assemble parts imported from China.

Goldie Srivastava, chief executive officer and co-founder of SmartE, an Uber-style app says that “This is a once-in-a-lifetime, transformational opportunity that we’re looking at,’’ using 800-plus e-rickshaws around New Delhi. “When we look at electric mobility, the focus should be: Are you as a government enabling products that are designed for the future?’’

Ola plans to place 10,000 e-ricks in its service by next April.

India is the world’s fourth-largest auto market, but its previous attempts to boost the private electric-car ownership flopped. According to Bloomberg NEF reports, in March the government has likely scaled back because it fears to disrupt an industry that contributes about 7 percent of the total gross domestic product. Also according to BNEF data, the number of electric cars plying Indian roads is a paltry 6,000 unlike the estimated 1.35 million EVs cruising around China. Chinese automakers sell more than that in three days.

India’s largest automaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., won’t sell their first EV until 2020.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is now pivoting towards promoting the  EVs in public transportation and fleet operations – primarily, two- and three-wheelers, taxis and buses. The Ministry of Finance is also finalizing a plan to spend nearly  40 billion rupees ($600 million) in the next five years to improve the nation’s charging infrastructure and subsidize e-buses.

Amitabh Kant, chief executive of NITI Aayog said, “India needs to focus on electrifying two-wheelers and three-wheelers’’. NITI  Aayog is a government policy institute helping formulate the new strategy.

Outside an east Delhi metro station, a few open-air vehicles line the street as commuters hail their rides. They also carry tourists, schoolchildren, crates of fruit and the occasional goat.

Anil Chaudhary, 32, switched to an e-rickshaw from a cycle model two years ago. His income has increased and also he’s able to take longer breaks. He sends money to his wife and three children in Bihar, about 700 miles away. He’s already on his second electric model.

“Two months ago, I called my brother from the village and gave him my old e-rickshaw so that he could drive it,’’ he said as a goat strolled past.

“I’ve bought this new one,” he said, gesturing toward a glossy, red vehicle adorned with paper flowers and an Indian flag.

According to the World Health Organization, the e-ricks have an ameliorative effect making the air toxic in India that are home to 10 of the world’s most polluted cities.

A total of 635,698 three-wheel vehicles were sold during the fiscal year at the end of March – a 24 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. By comparison, about 3.3 million passenger cars were sold, mostly all powered by gasoline or diesel.

One obstacle to the potential growth of EVs is the lack of charging and battery-swapping stations nationwide. India had about 425 publicly available charging points at the end of last year. The BNEF reports claim that by 2022, government and private efforts are expected to boost that to an estimated 2,800 charging points.

Instead of waiting, some companies are starting to build their own infrastructure. SmartE partnered with Delhi Metro Rail Corp. to provide charging near 10 stations, with plans to expand throughout the 214-station system by the end of 2020.

Another obstacle is the lack of bank financing for the traditional rickshaw drivers, who generally earn low incomes, said Shishir Agrawal, managing director of Shigan eVoltz Ltd.

If the financing issue is resolved the production could go up resulting in producing 1,000 vehicles a month  The potential market for e-rickshaws could be sales of 20 million vehicles a year, he said.

Also, Agrawal adds that “If the subsidies get better, and easy financing options become available, this market is unstoppable,”