Retail sales of electric two-wheelers have seen a sharp decline to just over 64,000 units, down 4 percent on March’s mega tally of 137,146 units albeit this does not warrant a month-on-month comparison. That’s because March 2024 was the last month for the FAME 2 subsidy scheme, which accelerated demand into the best-ever monthly sales.
At 64,013 units sold in April 2024, demand was down 4 percent YoY following reduced subsidy and in turn higher EV prices for some of the popular models.
The now-reduced subsidy has already seen most of the leading e-two-wheeler OEMs increase prices of their products. While Ola dropped prices of some models, TVS, Bajaj Auto, Ather Energy and Hero MotoCorp have all revised their product prices upwards. This can somewhat dampen demand albeit the wallet-friendly long-term USP of an EV beats that of a fossil-fuelled counterpart on two wheels. Let’s see how the EV industry on two wheels fared in a slow-selling month.
Ola Electric: 33,062 units
In April, Ola sold 33,062 units, which gives it a highest ever 51 percent share of the market. That’s a result of the company not raising EV prices despite the reduced subsidy, unlike its key rivals, TVS, Ather Energy and Bajaj Auto.
TVS: 7,653 units
TVS took second position in April with 7,653 units with its iQube e-scooter remaining a compelling buy and sold 1,89,896 units in FY2024. The company, which expects two-wheeler EV sales in India to reach 30 percent market penetration by CY2025, is targeting a big jump in the contribution of EV sales to its overall volumes over the next two years.
Bajaj: 7,515 units
Bajaj Auto, with 7,515 Chetaks sold, is the No. 3 EV OEM for April 2024. Bajaj Auto is also soon to further up the ante with the launch of a new more affordable e-scooter under the Chetak umbrella. To read more about that, tap here.
Ather Energy: 4,052 units
As a result of Bajaj Auto moving up the ladder board, Ather Energy is now at No. 4 position with sales of 4,052 units. Ather recently launched the Rizta family-focused electric scooter and to read more about that, tap here. To see how the Rizta stacks up to its rivals on paper, tap here.
Hormazd Sorabjee
Anurag Chaturvedi
