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Ambient air pollution in India accounts for 870 000 deaths per year, including 43 000 from road transportation. Vehicle electrification could posit a sustainable solution. However, 3/4th of India’s electric grid is powered by coal, emitting large amounts of PM _2.5 , SO _2 , and NO _x . This leads to uncertainty regarding the health benefits and distributional consequences from vehicle electrification. Our results show that if electric vehicles made up 30% of vehicle kilometers traveled, there would be 1000–2000 additional deaths each year under present day conditions. Higher increases in pollution exposure are seen in scheduled castes/tribes, poor, and rural populations particularly in high coal production states. Switching to net zero-emitting electricity generation for charging would reduce air pollution attributable deaths by 6000–7000 annually and PM _2.5 exposure across all groups of population.